Kristy's Big Decision
by Writing4ever4God
Summary: It's the summer before ninth-grade starts. Big changes are in store for our favorite baby-sitters. When a new family moves to Stoneybrook, will the new girl be the catalyst Kristy needs to start the club again? R/R
1. Chapter 1

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 1

"So, Anastasia and Demetri got married and lived happily ever after."

As I closed the book, my seven and a half-year-old stepsister, Karen, looked up at me thoughtfully.

"Kristy, is Anastasia real?" She asked.

Karen was never short on questions.

"Yes." I replied. "But she's not around anymore."

Karen frowned.

"But what if she is? What if she came here to Stoneybrook?" She asked. Her eyes were wide with excitement behind her blue glasses.

Karen wears two pairs of glasses. She wears a blue pair for reading and a pink pair the rest of the time.

"I don't think so, kiddo." I said. With that, I tucked the covers around my sister, kissed her cheek and ruffled her hair.

"I love you." Karen said as she hugged her plush cat, Goosie, close.

"Love you too, Karen." I replied. "Sleep tight now."

As I left the room, I Heard Karen mumble "Anastasia." Quietly before starting to hum "Once Upon a December."

I smiled as I left the room.

It seemed my whole family-well with the exception of the adults had caught "Anastasia" fever.

And that's saying a lot, since I have such a huge family.

You already know who Karen is, and who I am. Well you know my name at least.

I'm Kristy Thomas. I have brown hair and eyes and I'm on the short side. But don't let my height fool you for a second. I make up for it with my assertiveness, (some people call it being bossy.) and my well of ideas that never seems to dry up.

Besides me and Karen, there's my mother and stepfather, Watson, our grandmother, Nannie and my little sister, Emily Michelle. She just turned three two months ago. Then there's my stepbrother Andrew, (he's Karen's brother) and my little brother, David Michael, whose also seven. He and Karen are the same age, but Karen is a few months younger than him. They get along most of the time.

Then there are the pets. Shannon is David Michael's Burmese Mountain dog puppy. Even though she's big, she still has a lot of puppy left in her. She's sweet and friendly and loves to play.

Then there's Pumpkin. We adopted her after Watson's cat, Boo-Boo passed away. Pumpkin is energetic, sweet and loves to be around people. She especially loves Karen.

I guess it's a good thing we live in a mansion. That's right. I said a mansion.

IT has thirteen rooms, including an attic that Karen swears is haunted by the ghost of Ben Brewer. He's one of Watson's relatives.

Oh, I almost forgot about my older Brothers, Sam and Charlie.

Charlie is on his own now and Sam still lives with us. Even though Charlie has his own place, he comes over for dinner a lot. In fact, he's here so often that Mom jokes he'll be moving back in before school starts.

I had been baby-sitting for Karen and Emily Michelle while Mom and Watson had gone to a dinner party in Stanford. Stanford is a city close to Stoneybrook.

David Michael had slept over his best friend, Linny's and Sam was out on a date.

Right after Mom and Watson took off, I asked the two girls what they wanted to do.

Emily, who was talking more and more these days, smiled and pointed to the dress up trunk in the corner of the playroom.

"Kristy, dress up!" She insisted excitedly. She had just started saying my name and she was very proud of herself. Now she was saying it as often as she could.

I grinned.

"Sure!" I said. I glanced at Karen. "Is that okay with you, sis?"

Karen frowned.

"Can we watch Anastasia?" She asked. "Please? Daddy bought me my own copy after I won my gymnastics competition last week."

I sighed.

Even though trying to please two kids wasn't' something I enjoyed doing, I counted myself fortunate. At least I didn't have seven siblings to worry about. Unlike my friend, Mallory Pike, who was coming home from a year at boarding school.

She has seven brothers and sisters at home.

If you think my family is big, wait until you hear about hers.

But before I get into that, let's get back to that night.

I knew Emily was still too little to enjoy the movie, even though she loved the songs.

I also remembered what had happened when we had watched it for the first time as a family.

When the scene with Rasputin came on, Emily started crying and Nannie had to take her out of the room.

"Karen, why don't we compromise." I suggested.

Karen looked at me expectantly.

"Why don't we pretend we live in Anastasia's palace. That way, you can decide how the movie ends. And then we'll watch the movie after Emily's asleep. She goes to bed an hour and a half before you do."

Karen smiled at my suggestion. I was glad she had gone with it.

"Okay!" She agreed.

I sighed with relief as Karen started getting things ready for our game.

Another crisis was averted for now.

After we were done playing the game, it was almost time for Emily to go to bed.

I got her ready, read to her and sung her a song.

Once Emily was tucked in, I went back downstairs to watch "Anastasia" with my sister.

Karen stayed awake until the end. She jumped a little at the scary parts, but they didn't' scare her too badly.

After the movie was over, Karen got ready for bed. She insisted on reading the chapter book of "Anastasia" as a bedtime story.

I agreed and reminded her that we could only read two chapters.

Karen was fine with this and we started reading.

And you know the rest from there.

All in all, the night had been an easy and fun one for everyone.

As I sat down in the living room to wait for Mom and Watson to return, the phone rang.

Not wanting it to wake Karen or Emily, I snatched it up on the second ring.

"Hello?" I asked. "Thomas/Brewer residence."

"Hey!" Came Claudia Kishi's voice. "I'm so glad to be home."

I smiled wryly just thinking of the sitting Job Claud might have experienced.

"You were sitting for the Rodowsky's right?" I asked.

"Yup." Claud replied. "And boy am I glad to be done. The kids were good." She added quickly. "But you know Jackie."

"I do." I agreed.

Jackie Rodowsky is a red headed, freckled eight-year-old who can get into trouble no matter where he is.

If it's breakable and Jackie's around, it's bound to get broken.

Jackie means well, but he's very accident prone.

The members of the bSC, which is what we used to be, call him "the walking disaster."

"What did our walking disaster do now?" I asked as I settled against the couch.

As Claudia launched into the story of her sitting job with the three boys, I couldn't help but smile.

I missed reading about my friend's baby-sitting adventures in the club notebook.

As I continued to listen to Claud, my brain started coming up with another idea.

Maybe, just maybe, it was time to get the club back together again.


	2. Chapter 2

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 2

The morning started off like any other at a house with nine people and two pets in it.

Even though it was the last week of school for everyone five and older, it felt like the first day.

"Where's my book report?" Karen practically wailed as she ran into the kitchen. She was dressed and her hair was in a French Braid.

I had done it for her earlier that morning after breakfast.

"Did you check your folder?" I asked.

"I checked everywhere!" Karen insisted.

"I'll help you look." I offered. With that, I guided Karen back into the living room and we began searching for her missing book report. (Can you guess what book she read?)

Karen's missing book report wasn't the only disaster that occurred that morning.

Pumpkin got locked in the hall closet downstairs and David Michael couldn't find his gym shoes.

By the time we found Karen's book report and Mom had recovered David Michael's tennis shoes from behind Pumpkin's litterbox, we were running late.

As we ran out of the house, Karen stopped suddenly. This meant I almost bumped into her.

"What is it?" I asked. "You didn't forget something else, did you?"

Karen shook her head.

"No. Look! It's a moving truck!" She pointed to the house next to Abby's on the right.

Sure enough, a moving truck was pulling into the driveway.

"New neighbors!" Exclaimed David Michael excitedly. "Cool! Maybe they'll have a kid my age."

Karen glared at him and planted her hands on her hips.

"Maybe it'll be a girl. You never know." She challenged.

I was about to break up the argument, but was saved the trouble by Hannie Papadakis running over from her driveway and pulling Karen towards the school bus.

Karen and Hannie go to the same school and are best friends.

Once Karen and Hannie were gone, I waited until David Michael had joined Linny before running across the street to mete Abby Stevenson.

Abby is a good friend of mine and another member of the BSC.

I'll tell you about the club later, I promise.

"Hey!" Abby called as she ran to greet me. "What's up? Ready to ride the bronchitis bus?"

I gave her a strange look.

Abby was used to this by now. She's always cracking puns and jokes. She has some funny ones every now and then, but most of them just fly over my head.

"We rode the weez wagon for the first half of the year." She informed me. "The last part of the year it'll be the bronchitis bus."

I nodded, finally understanding the joke.

"Come on." She said. "We don't want to miss it."

I ran after her towards our bus stop.

As we gained the sidewalk, I glanced back in time to see a red mini van pull behind the moving truck.

Abby saw me staring and turned to look herself.

She grinned.

"Vell, vell," she said while adopting Dracula's accent, "some new blood."

"New clients." I said hopefully.

"Kill joy." Abby grumbled. She tapped my shoulder before running ahead of me.

You would never know just by looking at her that she has asthma, along with allergies to just about everything ever created.

This includes dogs, cat litter, but not cats themselves, shell fish, cheese and milk.

Despite this, Abby is as energetic as they come. She doesn't let her health problems stop her from doing anything.

Despite her determination and persistent nature, she carries in inhaler with her just in case an attack is really bad. She's only had to go to the hospital twice since she's been here.

Abby and her twin sister, Anna live with their mother in a house just across the street from ours. Their mother is a publisher of some kind and Anna is a serious musician. She practices the violin as seriously as I take sports.

Abby and Anna's father died in a car crash when the twins were nine. Although Abby doesn't talk about him much, I can tell she still really misses him.

Speaking of sports, Abby is the assistant coach on my team called Kristy's Krushers.

I created it for those kids who are either too young or too scared to join little league.

And before you ask, yes, that includes the walking disaster.

Although to Jackie's credit, he has managed to hit a few home runs.

Unfortunately, he's managed to break a few windows as well.

By the time I caught up with Abby, she was grinning at me.

"What took you so long?" She asked. "Then again, you haven't had a Crusher's practice in a few weeks. A little out of shape?"

I glared at her. I bent down and picked up a clod of dirt and aimed it at her like I was throwing a curve ball.

Unfortunately, Abby ducked and it hit someone else instead.

"Hey!" A familiar voice said. "I spent an hour on this hair style."

I glanced up and frowned when I saw my target.

"Sorry, Claud. " I said with a smile. "I was trying to hit speedy over there."

Claudia grinned.

"No problem. " She said. "SO how was your sitting job with your sisters?"

And just like that, the conversation was started.

As we boarded the bus, my mind started to wander back to our street and the new neighbors.

While I Had to agree with Abby that having new blood was a change of pace, I was growing curious as to whom the new family was. Would they have kids? And if they did, would they need a baby-sitter?

I knew that last question was silly. Of course they would need a baby-sitter.

Again, I started thinking of the club and what it would be like to start it again.

Abby broke me out of my thoughts.

"Hey, fearless leader!" She said, waving her hand in front of my face. "We're here."

"Thanks." I said. "And we wont' be here for much longer."

Abby grinned.

"I know. I can't wait! Four months of sunning, swimming and…"

"Sitting." Claudia finished.

I gave Claud a strange look.

Where had that come from?

"Did the job at the Rodowsky's mess with your brain?" I asked.

"No." Claudia replied. "But now that you mention it, math might do that."

"Math's not that bad." Abby said as she jogged up to her locker, which was right beside mine.

"That's easy for you to say." Claudia said. "You're a math whiz."

"NO I'm not." Abby said. "That's Stace…" Her voice trailed off as she realized what she was about to say.

Claudia gave her a small smile.

"It's okay." She said. "You can say her name. It's not like we're fighting or anything. And she did say she would be back sometime this summer."

Abby nodded.

Just then, we were joined by Mary Anne Spier. She's my best friend. She had come back from a short stay in Philadelphia.

She was moving into a new house that was being built for her and her family.

"When did you get in?" I asked after I hugged her hello.

"Last night." Mary Anne replied. "Late last night. I decided to come to school for the last week. I wanted to be with you guys and Logan."

I nodded.

Logan was Mary-Anne's boyfriend. Or at least he used to be. They broke up a few months ago, but they're still friends.

For the rest of the day, I couldn't think of anything but the new neighbors.

One other thing kept invading my mind as well. What Claud said about sitting had me thinking…

That afternoon, I was making a snack for Emily when Karen ran into the room with a grin a mile wide on her face.

"Guess what! Guess what!" She shouted.

"Indoor voice." I reminded her gently.

Karen nodded. She didn't even notice the apple slices and peanut butter I had set out for her.

"There's a new girl in our school!" She announced. "Her name is Alexandra Springer. She likes to be called Alex. She says that's what everyone calls her. She's seven and in Ms. Colman's class!"

"That's great!" I said. "Is she one of the new neighbors?"

"Yes!" Karen replied excitedly. "She said she has a mother and an aunt. And guess what!"

"What?" I asked.

"Her mother's name is Anastasia!" Karen exclaimed.

"Really?" I asked.

Karen nodded.

That didn't seem too strange. All families were different. Maybe she lived with her mother and her mother's sister.

"Aren't you going to eat your snack?" I asked.

Karen shook her head as she jumped out of her chair and ran for the front door.

"I want to see if Alex's home yet." With that, she dashed from the room.

"Be careful!" I called after her. "Watch for cars before you cross the street!"

"I will!" Karen called back.

Shaking my head, I waited until Emily was done her snack before suggesting we play outside.

Emily agreed right away.

I took my baby sister's hand and led the way to the front yard.

Emily was going through a stage where she wants to walk everywhere on her own.

She'll let Nannie or Mom carry her, but she wants to try new things every chance she gets.

When we got outside, Emily ran right for the bucket of sea ponies that was sitting near the picnic table.

While Emily played, I glanced over at the house next to Abby's.

When I didn't see Karen in the yard, I figured Alexandra had been home and the girls were playing in her room.

Still, a good baby-sitter always makes sure her charges are safe, especially when they're playing with new kids.

I stopped as this thought crossed my mind. Why was I thinking like this?

Before I had a chance to figure it out, the front door of the house opened and Karen ran out of it, smiling. She was followed by a girl who looked seven. She had light brown hair and brown eyes.

"Come on!" Karen was saying. "I want you to meet my sisters and our dog, Shannon! It'll be fun!"

The little girl nodded. She smiled excitedly at Karen before following her across the street.

"Okay!" She replied excitedly.

As both girls joined hands and looked both ways before crossing the street, the door opened for a second time. A teenage girl a year or two older than me came out. She had red hair and blue eyes.

"Alex!" She called. "Be careful, sweetheart."

Alex turned and nodded at the teenager who had just addressed her.

"Okay, Mama." She replied. "I will."

When I heard the little girl address the teenager as 'Mama, I figured that had to be Anastasia.

I watched to see if Karen had heard what Alex had said. I'm sure if she had, she would have turned around and started talking Anastasia's ear off.

But when I saw the girls cross the street, I decided Karen hadn't heard her.

Anastasia smiled at the two girls as she watched them cross safely over to our yard.

I waved to her to let her know Alex and Karen were okay.

She waved back and gave me a friendly smile. She went back into the house a minute later.

"Kristy! Kristy!" Karen shouted excitedly. "This is Alex!" She introduced. "Alex, this is my big sister, Kristy. She's really nice and a lot of fun!"

Alex gave me a big smile.

I smiled at Alex in return.

"Hi Alex. Do you like playing Softball?"  
Alex nodded, which surprised me.

"Yeah." She replied. "I wanted to join a team before we moved, but the coach wouldn't let me. He said I was too small."

I smiled at her reassuringly. She was a little shorter than Karen, but not by much.

"Well you know what?" I asked.

"What?" Alex replied.

"I coach a softball team." I told her. "It's called Kristy's Krushers. Would you like to join?"

Alex's brown eyes lit up.

"Really? I can join your team?" She sounded hopeful.

"Sure!" I replied.

"Thanks." Alex said sweetly.

"You're welcome." I replied.

Just then, Emily came up to us. She had Baby Wavedancer in her hands.

"Kristy, play, please?" She asked, looking up at me.

"Sure!" I said. "Emily, I want you to meet someone. Em, this is Alex. Alex, this is our little sister, Emily. Can you say hi?" I prompted Emily.

"HI." Emily replied.

Alex grinned.

"Hi." Alex replied. "I love My Little Pony too!" She told Emily.

Emily's brown eyes lit up with excitement.

"Play, please?" She asked.

"Sure!" Alex said.

Karen frowned.

Fortunately, Abby came over just then with Hannie and Linny, so she was distracted for the moment.

I introduced Abby and the Papadakis' to Alex.

They all seemed to get along really well.

As Alex sat down to play with Emily, I sat down to talk with Abby.

Before I knew it, Abby and I were in full baby-sitter mode. We had even organized the kids-minus Emily into a practice game.

Abby volunteered to watch Emily while I coached the kids.

_"_Can I try out now?" Alex asked me.

"Sure!" I replied.

As the game got under way, more Krushers' teammates showed up.

Before long, we had a big practice game going on.

It was a good thing Watson had such a big backyard.

As Alex poised the bat, I grinned at her encouragingly.

David Michael was the pitcher for this inning.

I cautioned him to be gentle since Alex was a little smaller than most seven-year-old's.

He nodded and threw the ball.

The minute the ball made contact with Alex's bat, we all heard a crack!

We cheered along with her as the ball sailed over the trees and over the notebook Abby had put down for home plate.

Alex ran and slid into home.

Everyone continued to cheer.

The game ended in a tie. It had been fun and I was happy the Krushers were eager to keep practicing.

As everyone started heading home, I gathered my team around me for a small pep talk.

"Well, first, I want to say that was a great game!" I said enthusiastically.

"It was fun!" Karen agreed.

I nodded.

"Also, I want you all to welcome Alex to our team."

Alex's eyes grew wide in surprise.

"I made it?" She asked. 'I really made it?"

"Yup!" I replied. "That home run was incredible! You could give Matt Braddock a run for his money."

Alex and Karen started jumping up and down and squealing.

Once they had calmed down, Alex spoke up.

"I can't wait to tell Mama and Aunt Sara!"

I exchanged a look with Abby. I could tell she was thinking the same thing.

It looked like we had a mystery on our hands.

As far as I was concerned, a practice game and a new mystery was a great start to summer vacation.


	3. Chapter 3

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 3

"Anastasia's your Mom?" Abby asked. She seemed as surprised by Alex's reply as the rest of us.

"Uh-huh." Alex replied.

"Did she adopt you?" Karen asked.

"Karen…" I said warningly. I had a feeling Alex was growing tired of the questions my sister was throwing at her.

"Yeah." Alex replied.

"But Anastasia's as old as my sister!" Karen exclaimed in surprise.

"So?" Alex challenged. "And she's a year older than Kristy."

"Karen…" I said once again.

"Well she is." Karen insisted. "Why did she adopt you?" Karen continued.

Alex sighed.

"Mama adopted me because she loves me and I needed help." The seven-year-old replied truthfully.

Karen nodded. She finally seemed satisfied and stopped asking Alex questions.

"Okay. Do you want to sleepover?" Karen asked Alex.

Alexandra shook her head. I couldn't blame her. She was probably a little upset at Karen for playing twenty questions with her.

"No thanks." She said. "Maybe another day. I'm gonna go home now. Dosvedanya, Kristy. Thanks for letting me join the team." With that, she said good-bye to the other Krushers and Abby and left.

I watched to make sure she had crossed the street safely before turning my attention back to Abby and the few Krusher's who were still there.

"That was different." Abby commented.

I nodded.

Abby grinned.

"So what do you say, fearless leader. Is it time to get out the club mystery notebook?"

I poked her playfully in the side before shaking my head.

We hung out for a little while longer before she left for her house. She had a sitting job at the Perkins' and she had to eat before hand.

Once the rest of the Krushers had gone home-minus my own siblings, I took them back into the house to get ready for dinner.

As I chopped vegetables for a salad Nannie was making along with our chicken and pasta that night, I tried to help Karen understand that what she had done was wrong.

"Karen, you shouldn't have pestered Alex like that." I tried. "Sometimes it's okay to ask questions and other times it's not."

Karen frowned.

"I didn't mean to hurt her feelings." She said sincerely.

"I know you didn't." I assured her. "But you need to say you're sorry the next time you see her."

"I will." Karen said.

"Good girl." I praised. "Now what do you say? Why don't you help me make dessert?"

"Okay!" Karen agreed. She was smiling again and it was a nice sight to see.

Throughout the next week, we didn't' see much of the Springer family due to school ending for us and the Springers' settling into their new house.

We saw Anastasia making sure Alex got to the bus stop all right, but that was it so far.

On the last day of school, I decided to start a conversation between us.

Anastasia seemed really nice and she seemed to have a way with kids.

After the kids had come home on the last day of school, I saw Anastasia hanging out on the front porch of her house.

I waved to her and she waved back.

"Hi!" I called.

"Privyet!" She called back. "Hi! Do you wanna come over? Sara went to the grocery store and Alex's doing an art project in her room."

"Sure!" I replied. "Is it okay with your Mom?"

Anastasia looked confused for a minute. Her face broke into a grin and she laughed gently.

"Sara's not my Mom!" She replied. "She's my older sister. And she won't mind. She met your parents a few days ago."

"Okay." I said.

Before I Knew it, I was sitting on the front porch with my new friend, drinking lemonade and talking happily.

I posed a question to Anastasia a minute later.

"What does Privyet mean?"

Anastasia smiled warmly.

"Privyet is Russian for hello." She explained.

I nodded.

"Cool!"

Anastasia giggled.

I frowned just then.

""I want to apologize for what Karen did to Alex." I began. "She can get a little carried away sometimes. I tried to stop her, but she just kept going and going…" My voice trailed off at the understanding look on Anastasia's face.

"It's okay." Anya replied. "Alex was a little upset when she came home a few days ago, but she's fine now. She made friends with a girl named Charlotte. They played together yesterday and seemed to get along really well. Charlotte's a sweetheart."

"Char is sweet." I agreed. "She's one of our favorite charges to sit for."

Anastasia gave me a puzzled look.

"Charge? Sit for?"

"Yeah. My friends and I used to run this club. It was really a baby-sitting business. It's called the Baby-sitter's club or BSC for short. Charlotte Johanssen was one of our regular charges."

Anastasia nodded. She looked genuinely interested.

"So what's the club all about?" She asked as she took a sip of her lemonade.

I guess now would be the best time to tell you about the club. I did promise to explain all about it.

I started the club back in seventh grade.

After watching my Mom call sitter after sitter for my little brother, David Michael.

As I watched her make call after call, I started thinking, wouldn't it be easier if she could call one number and reach more than one reliable sitter?

And that's how the club was born.

We started out with four members, but now we're eight members, if you count the associates.

Claudia Kishi, Mary-Anne Spier, Dawn Schafer, Mallory Pike, Jessi Ramsey, Stacey McGill were the original seven.

When Dawn moved back to California permanently, Abby and Anna moved to Stoneybrook and Abby joined the club.

Our associate members were Logan Bruno and Shannon Kilbourne.

But Logan quit the club a month ago and Shannen moved, so we don't have any associates anymore.

We used to meet Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at Claudia's house. Clients called on those days between five-thirty and six to ask for sitters for their kids.

As I finished explaining this, along with some of our inventions to help nervous or scared children, Anastasia looked fascinated.

"The club sounds great!" She said with a grin.

"It is. " I agreed.

Just then, Abby joined us. She looked a little upset.

"What's up?" I asked as I waved her over.

Abby sat down beside me on my left and gave Anastasia a wave.

"My Mom just told Anna and me about our vacation."

"What vacation?" I asked.

"We're going to Long Island to visit family for a month." She replied.

I nodded.

"I told her we might start the club up again and we already had a few sitting jobs lined up. Jobs I had taken, but she wouldn't hear it. She said something about this being family time and…" Her voice trailed off.

"It's okay." I assured her. "We'll be fine. It's only for a month. Mal is coming back from Boarding school in a week and the jobs haven't' really started trickling in by the dozens yet. Our first meeting of the summer isn't until this Monday."

Abby smirked.

"So you are going to start the club again?" She asked.

"I was thinking of starting it again on a trial basis. " I said. "Besides, we always do fun things with the kids in the summer. They've gotten used to it and we always have fun."

Abby gave me a look that clearly stated she wasn't' buying the trial basis line.

"What about Anastasia?" Abby asked.

"What about her?" I asked. Then realizing what I had said, I threw Anastasia an apologetic look.

She smiled.

"It's okay." She replied.

"Couldn't Anastasia take my place until I get back? Who knows, she might be so good we might have a new member."

I shoved Abby playfully.

I turned to Anastasia just then.

"Sorry. Abby sometimes gets carried away too." I said with a pointed look towards my friend. "We call her the energizer bunny sometimes."

Anastasia giggled.

"It's okay, really. I would love to take her place in the club until she gets back. I mean if that's okay with you." She added quickly.

"I don't see why not." I replied. "You can go on your first job with a more experienced member and then we'll go from there."

"Awesome!" Abby shouted. "Yes!" She pumped her fist in the air triumphantly. "The BSC is back!"

I nodded before I could stop myself. It looked like the BSC was back. The only question was, for how long?


	4. Chapter 4

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 4

It wasn't long before Abby left to eat dinner, leaving Anastasia and me by ourselves.

"So Anastasia, have you done a lot of baby-sitting?" I asked.

Anastasia nodded.

"Yes. I used to help my sister take care of a little girl named Dawn. She lives with another family though. I've watched her since I was twelve."

I nodded.

"And of course I've taken care of Alex for the past four years."

I was about to say something when the little girl joined us. She smiled at both of us and made a bee line for her mother.

She made herself comfortable next to her before gazing up at me.

"Privyet!" She greeted.

Anastasia giggled.

"Alex, I don't think Kristy understands Russian."

I smiled.

"I understand a little." I admitted. "It comes from watching Anastasia with Karen a thousand times."

Anastasia giggled.

"It's the same with Alex here. She calls it my movie because I was named after her. But everyone mostly calls me, Anya. I don't mind if people call me Anastasia though. I like both names."

I nodded. I turned to Alex.

"Privyet." I replied.

Alex grinned.

"That game was so much fun!"

"It was." I agreed. "And that home run you hit was incredible!"

Alex beamed.

"She definitely has an eye for sports." Anastasia or Anya, chimed in. "Before we moved, she was on a gymnastics team. She's taken gymnastics for the last two years."

"Wow!" I said.

Alex turned to her mother.

"Mama, I'm hungry." She announced.

Anya smiled as she ruffled her hair. She pulled Alex onto her lap and cuddled her close.

"All right, sweetie. Let me say good-bye to Kristy and then we'll get your tummy something to eat."

Alex nodded. She glanced up and gave me a smile.

I smiled back.

"Well, I'm gonna get Miss Alex something to eat and read with her before giving her a bath." Anya told me. "We'll see you later."

"Okay." I agreed. "I have to help make dinner myself. See ya, Alex."

Alex waved at me.

"Dosvedanya." She replied.

Anastasia giggled at her daughter's actions.

"Dosvedanya." I replied.

"Dosvedanya then." Anya said before taking Alex into the house.

I waved once I was back at my own house and went inside.

But as I made dinner with Nannie and Karen's help, I couldn't stop thinking about the conversation Anastasia and I had.

And as I set the table for dinner with Karen pitching in, I couldn't get the upcoming BSC meeting off my mind. I couldn't wait for it. I also couldn't wait to introduce Anastasia to the rest of the club members.

As far as I was concerned, Monday couldn't come fast enough.

"Order! Order!" I shouted over the conversation and commotion going on around me that Monday afternoon.

Mallory and Jessi were looking at the latest issue of Young Rider, Claud was searching for some peanut M&M's and Mary-Anne was checking that the record book was up to date since our last meeting.

I wasn't too worried about Mary-Anne. But the others were talking and laughing around me as though I hadn't just called the meeting to order five minutes ago.

Anastasia for her part was sitting quietly, observing the chaos around her.

Having no other choice, I placed two fingers on either side of my mouth and whistled shrilly.

That managed to settle everyone down.

When I was sure everyone was focused on me, I gave them a look before smiling in welcome.

"I just want to welcome everyone to our first official BSC meeting of the summer." I began. "Along with that-" I was interrupted as the members let out a cheer.

Claud caught my look and calmed down immediately.

The others followed suit soon afterwards.

"As I was saying, I want to welcome you all to the first official summer meeting of the BSC. Any club business?"

Abby spoke up.

"I'm going to Long Island for a month."

"What!" Claudia and Mal shouted in unison.

"Why?" Jessi asked.

Abby quickly explained what was going on.

"What are we gonna do for help?" Mary-Anne asked. She had stopped updating the record book for the moment.

"Ahem!" I said in an effort to gain everyone's attention. "I have a solution to that problem."

Everyone stopped talking and gave me an expectant look.

"I would like you to meet our newest member." I began. "Anastasia Springer."

Anastasia gave everyone a friendly smile.

"Hello." She said.

"Didn't you just move into the house next to Abby's?" Mal asked.

Anastasia nodded.

"Yes." She replied. "My sister and daughter and I moved in a week ago." She replied.

"Daughter?" Mal asked.

Anastasia nodded.

"Her name is Alexandra." She said. "She's seven. She's pretty outgoing and very friendly. Everyone calls her Alex for the most part."

I nodded in confirmation.

"Alex just joined the Krushers." I added.

"Were you named after the Russian princess?" Jessi asked.

"The very same." She replied. "But most people call me 'Anya. I don't mind if you call me Anastasia though. I Like both names."

"Phew!" Mal said with relief.

I had a feeling she was thinking of Stacey, who hates to be called Anastasia by anyone besides her parents.

Anya smiled at Mal warmly.

"Really." She said. "It's okay."

Mal smiled at her.

"Don't' tell my sisters that." She said.

Anya smiled.

"Don't worry. If they're anything like Karen, I can handle them." She gave me a smile as she said this.

"I'm not so sure." Mal said.

"Trust me." Anya insisted.

I was about to say something when the phone rang.

I picked it up on the second ring.

"Hello, Baby-sitter's club." I said. "Oh, hi Mrs. Pike. Tomorrow around twelve-thirty until four-thirty? Let me get back to you." With that, I hung up. "That was Mrs. Pike." I told the others. "She needs a sitter for the younger girls tomorrow from twelve-thirty until four-thirty."

Mal grimaced.

"My parents learned their lesson the last time we took the Pike clan to the strawberry festival."

"I remember that." Jessi said. "Didn't Margo throw up on your shoes after eating two dozen strawberries?"

Mal nodded.

"How could I forget. I still have a pink stain on them. I don't think Mom was ever able to get it out."

Anya giggled at that.

"Alex did the same thing to me when we went to the country fair. She ate one too many sticks of cotton candy."

"Say it isn't' so!" Claudia said putting her hand to her forehead.

Anya giggled.

"Yes." She said. "I'm afraid so. She hasn't eaten it since then."

"How long ago was it?" Claudia asked.

"Two weeks ago."

"I could never go that long without eating sweets."

"Come off it!" Abby said. "Forget two weeks. You couldn't go two minutes."

Claudia chucked some m&m's at Abby, but they missed and hit Anya instead.

"Oops." Claudia said in mock horror. "I'm so sorry, you're Grace."

"That's quite all right." Anya said in a dignified tone. "I'll pardon you this time."

We all burst out laughing until the phone rang again.

"Hello?" Claudia said. "Baby-Sitter's club. Oh, hi, Char. No, sorry. She hasn't. Okay. I'll see you later."

"What did Char want?" I asked. Then seeing Anya's puzzled look, I hastened to explain. "Sometimes charges we know really well call for special reasons."

Anya nodded.

"Char wanted to know if Stace was back." Claudia answered. "She really misses her."

"Don't' we all. " Mary-Anne said. "So, whose gonna brave the Pike clan?"

"I vote for Anya." Abby said.

The vote was unanimous.

Anya would be taking the job with Mal.

I just prayed she could handle it.

While it was true that the triplets no longer required a sitter, the girls were a handful sometimes.

And with Mallory being back from Riverbend, I had a feeling her sisters were going to be fighting for her attention for the time she was here.

As the meeting wound down, Sara called, requesting a sitter for Alexandra two days later.

Anya took the call and blushed furiously by the time she was done.

We lined up Mary-Anne for the job. We spent the rest of the meeting talking about our summer plans with the kids.

All in all, the first summer meeting of the BSC had turned out to be a success.

I just hoped Anyas' first job would turn out the same way.


	5. Chapter 5

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 5

Tuesday,

Well, I survived my first job. I'm not sure your kitchen will ever be the same again, Mal. I think I did okay breaking up that fight between Charlotte and Margo. And at least the kids had a good time…

Don't be so modest. The kitchen's fine. Although I don't think Margo will ever look at Mom's new stew the same way again!

When Anya arrived at the Pike's the next afternoon, she rang the door bell. She was soon greeted by Pow, the Pikes' basset hound as well as Mallory.

"Hey!" Mal greeted. "Come on in. The girls are excited to meet you. I told them we had a new member, but I didn't tell them much." She then added, "The triplets went to play basketball with Jake Khunn and Nicky went with them. Nicky is nine and the triplets are eleven."

Anya nodded.

"Okay." She said.

Stepping into the house, Anya stopped to pet Pow before following Mal into the living room.

When they got there, Claire and Margo stopped what they were doing and gave Mallory their full attention.

This was rare for them and Mal took full advantage of it.

"Come here you guys." She said. "There's someone I want you to meet."

The two girls joined Mal and Anya by the couch. They gave the newest member curious looks.

"This is Anya." She introduced. "She's our newest club member."

"Hi." Anya said. She knelt down on the girls' level and gave them a friendly smile.

"Hi." Margo said.

Claire was looking at Anya as though she were trying to figure something out.

Anya gave her a minute before helping her along.

"Is your real name Anastasia?" She asked in wonder.

"Maybe…" Anya said with a grin.

"Wow!" Claire breathed. "A real princess!"

"I was named after her." Anya told both girls.

"Wow!" Claire said again.

Anya giggled.

Margo frowned.

"What's up, kiddo?" Anya asked.

Margo shook her head.

Mal thought she knew what was bothering her little sister.

"You can ask her, Margo. It's okay."

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"That's probably Charlotte." Mal said. "She wanted to come over and play with Margo."

When she returned, Charlotte was behind her.

Char smiled when she saw Anya.

"Privyet!" She greeted.

"Privyet to you too, Char. How are ya, huh?"

"Good!" Charlotte replied.

"What does Privyet mean?" Margo asked.

"It means hi in Russian." Anya replied.

Claire's eyes grew wide.

"We wanna learn to! Will you teach us, Anastasia, please?"

Margo nudged Claire in the side.

"What!" Claire demanded.

"Don't' call her that." Margo hissed. "She might get mad."

Anya frowned.

"Margo, it's okay." She assured her.

"Are you sure?" Margo asked.

Anya nodded.

"Yes. IN fact," she said, still on the girls' level, "you can call me Anastasia."

"Me too?" Claire asked hopefully.

Anya laughed.

"Yes, little one. You too. You all can if you want. I don't mind."

Margo grinned.

"I'm glad Stacey isn't' here." She said. "She hates it when anyone calls her that."

Unfortunately, Charlotte heard her and was on her feet in a second.

"Take that back!" She demanded. "That's my sister you're talking about!"

Margo shook her head.

"Stacey's not your real sister and it's true." Margo insisted.

"Is not!" Charlotte yelled.

"Is too!"

Anya jumped in before things could go any further.

She put a hand on Charlotte's shoulder to calm her and Mal did the same to Margo.

"Why don't you tell me about Stacey." She suggested to Charlotte. "I haven't met her yet."

Charlotte thought about it for a minute. She sat down next to Anya and started telling her about Stacey.

Mal was impressed.

While Anya had Charlotte's attention, Mal took Margo into the kitchen to have a talk with her. She was also going to start lunch for everyone.

"I really miss her." Charlotte told Anya.

Anya gave her a small hug.

"I'm sure she misses you too. But she'll be back."

Charlotte nodded. She felt a little bit better now.

Just then, Claire joined them.

"Anastasia, I'm bored!" She declared. She flopped down on the couch beside the older girl.

"You're bored, huh? Well, what if we invite someone over for you to play with. Charlotte's here, but I know she's gonna spend time with Margo and Vanessa. Let's ask your sister if we can invite someone new over for you."

Claire was curious now.

"Who?" She asked.

Anya grinned.

"Let's see what your sister says first. If she says yes, I'll tell you."

Claire nodded.

"Okay." She replied. "Mallory!" She called as she ran ahead of Anya into the kitchen.

After Anya had explained to Mal what was going on, she agreed to let one more person come over.

"Great!" Anya said enthusiastically. With that, she dialed a number and was soon greeted by a familiar voice.

"Hello?" Alex answered.

"Privyet, sweetheart." Anya replied. "Listen, how would you like to come over and play with Charlotte? I'm sitting at the Pike's and Mal's youngest sister needs a new friend to play with. She's six."

"Okay!" Alex agreed.

"Can I talk to Sara for a minute, sweetie?" Anya asked her daughter.

"Okay." Alex replied. With that, she got Sara for her.

"Whose she talking to?" Margo asked as she listened to Anya's part of the conversation.

"I don't know." Mal replied.

Ten minutes after Anya was done her phone call, the doorbell rang.

Anya got it with Claire right behind her.

"Privyet, Alex!" Anya greeted the little girl happily. She gave her a hug and kiss before leading her into the house. She thanked Sara for bringing her.

"No problem." Her older sister replied. "You owe me." Anya giggled.

"I'll cook your favorite dinner tonight."

"Sounds good to me." With that, Sara said good-bye to everyone and left.

Once she was gone, Anya put an arm around Alex's shoulders and grinned at Claire.

"Claire, I would like you to meet Alex. Alex, this is Claire."

Alex smiled at her.

Claire grinned back.

"Preveet." She tried.

Alex giggled.

"Privyet." She said in return. "Do you like playing house?"

Claire nodded.

"Yeah!" With that, the two girls ran off to play.

"She's cute." Mal said.

"Thanks. " Anya replied. She sat down on the couch for a second.

Just then, Vanessa came in. She had been writing a poem when Anya had arrived.

"Hi." She said.

"Hi. You're Vanessa, right?" She asked.

Vanessa nodded.

"Yup." She turned to Mal just then. "Can I Go over to Haley's, please?"

"Sure!" Mal replied. "BE careful."

"I will!" Her sister called back.

Just then, there was a squeal, followed by a slight crash in the rec room.

Both girls jumped up and raced for it.

They found Char and Margo trying to pick up multi colored beads, buttons and assorted fabric as well as a can of glitter.

"What are you guys doing?" Mal asked.

"We're trying to make crowns." Charlotte replied.

Mal nodded.

"Okay. Just don't destroy the rec room while you're at it."

"We won't." Margo told her.

Once she was satisfied that the girls were okay, Mal led the way out of the rec room.

Before long, Mal was calling the girls in for lunch. She had made them sandwiches with Anya's help, along with a new stew their mother had prepared earlier that morning.

The girls joined them after a few minutes.

Alex and Claire were talking and laughing as though they had been friends forever.

Anya was happy about this. She could tell Alex wanted to hang out with Charlotte too. She hoped Margo would let her join them once lunch was over.

Once everyone was settled, Margo gave her mother's stew a once over before making a face Mal knew only too well.

Anya caught her look out of the corner of her eye and tried to avert disaster.

"What's wrong, Margo?" She asked.

Margo scrunched up her nose in distaste.

"I don't like the stew." She said. "It looks disgusting."

Rather than trying to get her to try it right away, Anya tried to sympathize with her.

"You know what?" She said while leaning over to her so only she could hear her.

"What?" Margo asked.

Anya tried to keep a straight face as she replied, "I never cared for stroganoff either."

"What's that?" She asked.

"That's what this stew is called." Anya replied.

"That's a funny name!" Margo said with a giggle.

Anya nodded.

"You really don't like it either?" Margo asked.

Anya shook her head.

"Nope. But you know what?"

Margo shook her head.

"It's always good to try new things. Why don't you taste it just once. If you don't like it, I'll make you another kind." She offered.

Margo thought about it for a minute. She took a tentative taste and swallowed.

"Well…?" Anya asked.

Margo looked unsure for a minute.

"Did Anastasia eat stragaoff?" Margo asked.

Anya giggled at her pronunciation.

"Yes." She replied. "But she didn't like it either. And it's called stroganoff. Can you say that?"

Margo tried and succeeded after a second attempt.

"Good girl!" Anya praised.

Margo grinned. She ate some more of the stew and finished half the bowl before moving onto her sandwich.

Mal was impressed. She had a feeling if she would have tried to get Margo to eat it, her sister would have fought her every step of the way.

"Now what do you think of stroganoff?" Anya asked the little girl.

"It's okay. " Margo said truthfully. "IF Anastasia ate it, I guess I can learn to like it too."

Anya gave Mal a thumbs up and Mal returned it.

After lunch was over, the girls wanted to play outside.

Mal and Anya allowed them to.

"Can I play with you guys?" Alex asked Charlotte and Margo as the girls started a game of jump rope.

Charlotte grinned.

"Sure!" She said.

Alex grinned at her and said thanks as they started a jump rope rhyme.

By the time Mr. and Mrs. Pike returned around four-fifteen, the girls were playing a game of Go Fish while Mal and Anya watched to make sure Margo didn't cheat.

"How did it go?" Mrs. Pike asked as she paid both girls for a job well done.

"Good!" Anya replied. "The girls had a lot of fun."

Margo ran up to her mother just then.

"Mommy, can you make stroganoff for dinner? Please?"

Anya winked at Margo.

"That's my cue to leave." Anya said. "I'll see you later, Mal. Come on, sweetie." She said to Alex. She took her hand and led the way down the street.

As she turned to leave, Margo and Claire both called after her.

"Anastasia, wait!"

She turned back to the two little girls who had just addressed her.

"Dosvedanya!"

Anya grinned and repeated it back before turning the corner and disappearing out of sight.


	6. Chapter 6

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 6

By the time we had our next meeting of the summer, Anya had gone on a few more jobs with other sitters and she was quickly getting the hang of how the club worked.

It was the Saturday after our Friday meeting when we needed a sitter on short notice to baby-sit Karen and Emily Michelle.

I had softball practice, Mom and Watson were going on a date and Nannie had a bowling practice.

I thought of calling Claud or Mary-Anne, but then I Remembered they both had plans.

Mary-Anne was going to the movies with Dawn Schafer, who had returned that Wednesday and Claudia had a sitting job of her own at the Newtons.

Abby had left for Long Island the day before, so she wasn't available to help either.

Having no other choice, I called Anya.

After I had explained to her what was going on, she agreed to sit. She asked if she could bring Alex with her since Sara was going on a date of her own.

I asked my parents and they said it was fine.

Twenty-minutes later, Anya and Alex arrived.

Karen was overjoyed to see both of them. She gave Anya a hug the minute she saw her.

"Privyet!" She greeted proudly.

"Aw, privyet to you too. " Anya replied. "Are you ready for a fun night?"

"Yes!" Karen shouted excitedly.

"Karen," I reminded her. "Indoor voice."

Karen nodded and tried to calm down.

Once everyone had left, Anya gave the kid's dinner before seeing what they wanted to do for the rest of the night.

As for David Michael, he was sleeping over at the Pikes' and Andrew was in Chicago with Lisa and Seth.

Once dinner was over, Anya cleaned up the kitchen with Karen and Alex's help before gathering the three children in the living room.

"So what do you guys wanna do?" She asked.

"Can we watch "Anastasia?"?" Karen asked.

"Why don't we play a game?" Anya suggested. "Then after Emily goes to bed, we can watch it if you like."

Karen switched gears as fast as lightning.

"Okay! Let's play "Let's All Come in! She suggested.

"What's that?" Alex asked.

Karen was glowing with excitement as she explained the game to her new friend.

"I know!" She said. "We'll pretend we're princesses like you!" She said, glancing at Anya. She got a hopeful look in her eye. "Can you show us how to be a princess?" She asked. "I mean a princess like Anastasia? Please?"

"Be princess like Ana!" Emily announced happily.

"All right. " Anya replied. She grinned as an idea came to her. "There's only one way to do that. Karen, do you have the soundtrack for the movie?"

"Yup!" Karen replied. She ran upstairs and returned with her copy of the CD and my boom box. I had allowed her to borrow it until she got her own for her birthday.

After the boom box was plugged in, Karen put the CD in and flipped it to song number five.

"All right, are you guys ready?" Anya asked.

"Ready!" Karen said enthusiastically.

"Me too!" Alex said.

"Me too!" Emily echoed.

"All right. Here we go…" With that, Anya spent the next half an hour teaching her charges how to be a Romanoff princess.

They had a lot of fun and Karen even got dressed up for the occasion.

An hour later, Anya got Emily ready for bed while Karen and Alex played in Karen's room.

Once Emily was tucked in, Anya went back to the older girls. She was planning on letting Alex fall asleep downstairs so she could be closer to her.

As promised, she set up "Anastasia" for them and the three watched half of the movie together.

It wasn't long before thunder sounded in the distance.

Alex moved closer to her mother while Karen tried to be brave about it. She was almost eight after all and almost eight-year-olds weren't afraid of thunderstorms.

"It's okay." Anya assured the little girl shaking in her lap. "The thunder can't hurt you, sweetheart. You're safe with Mama." She whispered something in Russian to her and the seven-year-old calmed down soon afterwards.

When it was time for Karen to go to bed, she got ready without fuss.

She and Anya, along with Alex read from her "Anastasia" book for twenty-minutes after she was tucked in.

After Anya was sure Karen would be okay, she left her night-light on and went back downstairs to wait for Mom and Watson to come home.

As for me, I was sleeping over at Mary-Anne and Dawn's after practice.

As the hours wore on, the storm really started growing outside.

The wind started howling and the thunder crashed while lightning flashed.

As Anya settled down to read a book of her own, she heard a thud from upstairs, followed by a scream.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Anya checked on Emily before going for Karen's room.

When she entered, she found my sister on the floor. Her covers were strewn about and she looked terrified.

Kneeling down to Karen's level, Anya tried to gain her attention.

"Karen? What happened? Did the storm scare you?" She asked.

Karen gazed up to meet Anya's eyes as a sob escaped her lips.

She shook her head fiercely as more tears streamed down her face.

"Don't let him get me!" She cried desperately. "He was trying to hurt me!"

"Who?" Anya asked. "Karen, who are you talking…" Her voice trailed off in realization. She held her arms out to the scared little girl and hoped she would accept her comfort.

Karen dove into Anya's arms as more tears came.

Wrapping her arms around my sister, Anya realized she was shaking.

"Karen, it's okay now. " Anya assured her. "He can't hurt you now. You're safe with Anastasia. You're safe with me. Was it Rasputin? Did you have a nightmare about what he tried to do to me?"

"Yes!" Karen cried. She clung to Anya as though her life depended on it. "It was scary! He chased me down a street and he was going to hurt me! I think he thought I was you. I tried to get away, but I couldn't!" With that, she broke down in Anya's arms.

All Anya could do was hold her and try to soothe her. She understood Karen's fear better than she knew. She wasn't going to tell her this of course, but she knew Karen needed to know she wasn't alone.

"Shh, shh, it's okay, Karen. It's okay now. I know it was scary, but everything's okay now. He can't hurt you anymore."

"Stay with me, please!" Karen begged.

"Of course I will." Anya replied. "We need to go downstairs though."

Karen didn't argue. She just clung to Anya's shoulder as she stood up and headed for the stairs.

Once in the living room, Anya sat down on the couch and hugged Karen close.

She started singing the only song she could think of that would help Karen calm down and hopefully get her back to sleep.

"Dancing bears, painted wings, things I almost remember. And a song someone sings, once upon a December. Someone holds me safe and warm, horses prance through a silver storm…"

By the time Anya was done singing the song for the second time, Karen was calm and on her way back to dreamland.

Anya prayed she would have sweet dreams this time. She figured the reason Karen had experienced the nightmare was because they had stopped the movie right after Anya had experienced her own while on the ship.

That coupled with the real storm outside had probably caused it.

"Thanks, Anastasia." Karen mumbled before falling back to sleep.

"Shh, shh…" Anya soothed. She started to sing once again.

By the time Mom and Watson came home, Karen was fast asleep.

Anya explained what had happened and Mom tucked Karen back in bed.

I didn't find out about Karen's nightmare until the next day. I Hoped she would be okay.

I also hoped this was the end of her Anastasia obsession.

But knowing Karen, she wouldn't let a little nightmare stop her for long…


	7. Chapter 7

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

A/N: This chapter deals with an issue I Think every baby-sitter should know about. It wasn't addressed in the books, so I thought I would write about it.

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 7

Wednesday,

Well, that was one sitting job I'll never forget. I don't think the Papadakis' will any time soon either. Also, I think it's a lesson to all baby-sitters. You should always be prepared for anything! And even if you're not prepared like me, you should be aware that what happened to me and the Papadakis girls could happen to anyone, anywhere, any time. I'm just glad everything turned out okay when it was all over.

Anya arrived at the Papadakis's around one that afternoon for her sitting job.

She was only going to be sitting for Hannie and Sari. Linny was playing with David Michael.

After Mrs. Papadakis gave Anya the usual instructions and showed her where the emergency numbers were, she kissed Hannie good-bye as did her husband and the two left for their luncheon.

As they were walking out the door, Mrs. Papadakis turned back to Anya.

"Hannie's had a headache for the last two days. If she starts complaining of more pain, you can give her Children's Tylenol after she eats some lunch. And would you mind putting the laundry in the dryer when the washer beeps?"

"No problem." Anya replied. She didn't mind doing a little housework.

"You're a dear." Mrs. Papadakis commented. "Thanks. Bye, Hannie. Have fun with Anya." With that, they were gone.

Taking a seat on the couch next to Hannie, Anya smiled at her.

"So what do you wanna do now, kiddo?" She asked.

She had sat for the Papadakis' a few times in the last month and they really liked her a lot.

Hannie shrugged.

"Can we watch a movie?" She asked.

"Sure! What do you wanna watch?" Anya asked.

Hannie thought for a minute. She chose "TLM 2: Return to the Sea" and the two settled back to enjoy the movie until Sari woke up.

Glancing up from the screen, Anya noticed Pat the Cat, walking in front of the laundry room door. She usually came to greet Anya or any baby-sitter when they came to call.

"Pat!" Anya called. "Here kitty-kitty!"

Pat gave Anya a look before going back to her task. She didn't even come over so Anya could pet her.

"That's strange." Anya commented. "She usually loves it when I pet her."

"She's been acting strange since last night." Hannie told her.

Anya nodded.

Just then, they heard Sari start to cry.

"Sari's awake. Shall I go get her and bring her down?"

Hannie nodded and giggled. She loved it when Anya took on a royal tone.

"I think that would be a good idea, You're Grace." Hannie replied.

"I'll be right back." Anya winked at Hannie, patted her shoulder and went for the stairs.

Climbing them, Anya suddenly felt a little dizzy. It passed after a minute, so she didn't let it bother her.

Entering Sari's room, Anya gave the three-year-old a smile.

"Privyet, Sari!" She greeted warmly. "Are you ready to get up and join your sister and me?"

Sari stopped crying for a minute, glanced to where Anya was standing and started right up again.

Anya was confused by the child's actions. Sari was usually such a happy little girl. She had grown fond of Anya in the last few weeks.

"Aw, shh, it's okay, it's okay…" Anya soothed. She picked Sari up and cuddled her close. "Do you miss your Mama? It's all right. She'll be back soon." She assured her. "We're gonna have fun until she gets back. Yes we are." With that, Anya changed Sari and got her ready for the afternoon. She hummed "Once Upon a December" while she worked, knowing Sari loved that song.

Sari quieted down a little, but she was still upset.

"Aw, there you go." Anya said. She started softly speaking to the little girl in Russian.

It usually worked for Sari.

But it didn't' seem to be working today.

"Shh, shh, all right, it's okay." Anya assured her. "Maybe seeing your sister will cheer you up. Do you wanna go see…" Her voice trailed off as she felt the dizzy feeling return. She actually had to grab onto the side of Sari's changing table to keep herself from falling to her knees.

She wasn't sure what was going on, but she wished it would stop. She had felt fine earlier. What was going on now?

Regaining her balance, Anya took Sari downstairs.

When they reached the living room, Hannie grinned when she saw her sister.

"Hi Sar!" She said happily.

"See?" Anya said, sitting down next to Hannie. "There's your big sister. There's Hannie."

Sari calmed down a little more, but not by much.

Anya was about to suggest they get lunch, when the washer went off.

"I'll be right back." Anya told Hannie. She set Sari in the playpen until she returned. She instructed Hannie to watch her for a minute. She knew Hannie could be trusted. She was only going across the hall to the laundry room. Besides, the door would be left open.

When Anya got to the laundry room, she found Pat guarding the door.

"You silly cat." She said playfully. "I need to get in there."

Pat wouldn't move at first. She stayed put and glared at Anya.

"Come on now." Anya coaxed. "I need to get the laundry."

Finally, Pat moved. She meowed, but Anya ignored her.

Opening the door, Anya entered the room. She took the laundry out of the dryer and set it on the table next to it.

As she was putting the laundry from the washer into the dryer, Hannie's panicked voice cried out.

"Anastasia! Sari threw up!"

Anya left the laundry half done and ran back to the living room. In her haste to get back to the kids, she had left the laundry room door wide open.

Anya found Sari crying up a storm while Hannie stayed as faraway from the mess as possible.

"Sari, shh, it's okay. Let's get you cleaned up, huh?" With that, she picked Sari up and carried her upstairs for a quick bath.

As she was washing her, Anya started feeling a little queasy herself. She shook it off and concentrated on taking care of Sari.

Just then, Hannie came upstairs looking miserable. She walked into the bathroom where Anya was getting Sari changed.

"Anastasia!" She said pitifully.

Anya knew something was wrong by the tone in Hannie's voice.

"Hannie, what's wrong?" Anya asked in concern. She turned around while holding Sari in her arms.

"I feel sick!" Hannie cried.

"Is your head hurting again?" Anya asked. She knelt down to Hannie's level while still holding Sari.

"Yes." Hannie replied.

Anya thought for a minute.

"Maybe eating something will help you. Come on, I'll make us some lunch." Anya suggested. "Then after you eat, I can give you some medicine."

Hannie nodded, even though she wasn't' feeling hungry.

Getting back downstairs, Anya set Sari in her playpen with some toys and her bear before making some pb and j sandwiches for herself and Hannie.

They ate in silence and Anya noticed Hannie was taking small bites of her food.

"You don't have to eat it all. " Anya assured her. "It's okay."

Hannie nodded. She drank some of her milk and put her half eaten sandwich down.

While Anya was doing the dishes, Hannie said she had to go to the bathroom.

As Anya turned the water off, she went into the living room to check on Sari.

The little girl wasn't crying anymore, but she looked a little pale.

Anya thought maybe she was coming down with something.

When Sari saw Anya, she lifted her arms up as though she wanted to be picked up.

Anya smiled at this.

"Now that's the Sari I know." She said with a grin. She was about to pick the three-year-old up when she heard a small thud from upstairs. IT was quickly followed by Hannie yelling for Anya.

"Anastasia!" Her voice sounded tearful and desperate.

"I'm coming, Hannie!" Anya called back. She took the stairs two at a time, much like she had done the night Karen had her nightmare.

Getting to the bathroom, Anya found Hannie doubled over in pain, tears streaming down her face.

Anya raced to her side and helped her to sit up.

"Hannie, what happened?" She asked. She was trying to remain calm on the outside, while inside her heart was racing.

"Anastasia, it hurts!" Hannie cried. "I feel like I'm gonna…" Her voice trailed off as she threw up right there on the floor.

"Oh Hannie!" Anya said sympathetically. "You're gonna be okay. Come on. Let's get you back to-" She was interrupted as an even bigger wave of dizziness swept over her. She soon felt queasy again.

It was then that she realized she had to get the kids out of the house. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew they couldn't stay there. IT wasn't safe.

Taking a deep breath, Anya took charge of the situation. She helped hannie up and took her hand firmly in hers.

"Anastasia, I can't!" Hannie cried. "It hurts too much!"

Thinking quickly, Anya picked Hannie up and held her with one arm while holding onto Sari with the other.

Moving quickly while being careful not to let either child fall, Anya rushed back downstairs and out of the house.

Once outside, Anya took in a big gulp of air. She found she felt a little better.

Sari seemed to calm down once they were outside as well.

Knowing her sister was home, Anya raced for her house.

"Where are we going?" Hannie asked. She sounded tired and Anya could tell.

"We're going somewhere safe." She assured her. "I'm taking you guys to my house."

Hannie didn't' argue. She was still feeling pretty bad.

Getting there, Anya raced inside when she realized the door was unlocked on the bottom.

"Sara!" She cried out. "I need your help!"

Sara rushed into the room just as Anya placed Hannie down on the couch.

"Anya, what is it?" Sara asked. "I thought you were sitting for the…" Her voice trailed off when she got a good look at her sister and Hannie. "Anya, what happened? Are you okay?"

"We will be now." Anya replied. She thrust Sari into Sara's arms as she felt her own knees give out.

Sara hugged Sari tightly while kneeling down in front of her sister.

"Anya, what happened?" She asked again.

Anya was starting to feel really sick and she didn't know why. They were out of the house now. If they were out of immediate danger, why did she suddenly feel like she was going to either throw up or faint any minute?

Anya tried her best to explain to Sara what had happened.

"I was baby-sitting and the kids felt sick. Hannie had a headache and Sari threw up. Then Hannie got sick and…I felt dizzy and queasy…I didn't know….know what was going on, but I knew I had to…had to get them out…Sara, I don't feel so…" Anya's voice trailed off as the dizziness returned.

She heard Sara yell her name before everything went black.

Sara took charge immediately. She got the rest of the story from Hannie as she dialed 911. She also called me to see if I could watch Alex for a little while longer.

I had a million questions running through my head as I raced the girls and two boys over to the Springers'. But I kept them to myself. Something told me now wasn't' the time to ask them.

Unfortunately, Alex saw the commotion and became hysterical when she realized her Mama might be hurt.

I was able to calm her down once the ambulance left.

I brought all three girls in the house, along with the boys and tried to distract them while we played the waiting game.

As we waited, I couldn't help but worry. What had happened over at the Papadakis' that afternoon?

Linny was worried for his sisters, but I assured him they would be okay.

I just prayed I was telling him the truth…


	8. Chapter 8

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

A/N: This chapter starts where the other one left off. Again, it deals with an issue I Think every baby-sitter should know about.

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 8

While we were waiting at my house, Sara was anxiously waiting for someone to tell her about her sister and the Papadakis girls.

A nurse approached her after a while.

"Miss Springer?" She asked.

Sara stood up and gave the nurse her full attention.

"How are the girls?" She asked.

"They're gonna be fine." The nurse named Jeanie said. "We're going to keep Hannie and Sari here overnight just to be safe, but they should be good as new in the morning. I've already called their parents and they're on their way now."

"What about Anya?" She asked.

"Anya will be fine." She said. "She was the least critical of the three. You have a very smart sister, Miss Springer. If she hadn't gotten the children out of the house when she did…You can take her home in an hour or so."

Sara nodded.

"Can I see her?" She asked.

"Of course. " Jeanie said. "Follow me."

Sara did so. She had to know one thing before she saw Anya.

"What happened?" She asked. She had an idea, but she wanted to hear the full story from the nurse.

"Your sister and the children she was sitting for were suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning."

Sara was shocked. She had heard of cm poisoning before, but she had never thought it would happen to anyone she loved.

"I suggest the Papadakis' get carbon monoxide detectors as do you. This case wasn't too severe, but we've seen worse."

Sara nodded.

"They're just like smoke detectors. " Jeanie explained. "They just warn you if there's a carbon monoxide leak somewhere just like smoke detectors warn you of fire. You can get them at any drug store or super market."

"Okay." Sara said. She made a mental note to get a few for the house the next time she was out.

When they entered the room Anya was in, Sara rushed to her side immediately.

Jeanie got her a chair and told her she could stay as long as she wanted.

"Once she wakes up fully and is able to drink something without vomiting, you can take her home." Jeanie explained. "I'll be in to check on her in a little while." With that, she left.

Sara took Anya's hand in hers and prayed she would be okay. She was also very proud of her for what she had done for the girls.

It wasn't long before Anya's blue eyes fluttered open. She gave Sara a tiny smile before trying to speak. She was surprised how tired her voice sounded.

"Sara?" She said.

"Hey you." Sara replied. "You're awake. How do you feel?"

"Tired." Anya replied truthfully. "I still feel sick."

"You're gonna be okay." Sara assured her. "Jeanie said we can go home once you can keep some juice down."

"That's good. " Anya replied. "How are the girls?"

"They have to stay here overnight." Sara explained. "But they can go home tomorrow. Mr. and Mrs. Papadakis are on their way. Anya, I'm very proud of you. You saved their lives."

Anya nodded.

"Can I see them?" She asked.

"After you feel better." Sara told her. "Just try and rest for now. I'll get you something to drink in a little bit."

Anya nodded. She didn't have to be told twice.

If there was one thing she knew, it was that this was one sitting job she wouldn't forget any time soon. She had a feeling the Papadakis' sisters wouldn't forget it either.

When Anya awoke again, she felt Sara combing a hand through her hair and heard her humming a lullaby she used to sing to her when she was little.

This helped her calm down considerably.

"Privyet." Sara said softly once she noticed her sister was awake. "Are you ready to go home?"

Anya was about to say yes, when she felt her stomach twist painfully.

She managed to say Sara's name before the sick feeling grew.

After she was done, Sara helped her sip at some water, but it didn't' stay down.

Jeanie came in to check on her and concluded she would have to stay over night as well.

"Don't worry." She assured Sara and Anya. "This sometimes happens, even to people who aren't exposed to the gas for very long. She'll be fine by tomorrow." She gave Anya some ice chips and some apple juice to try. She also made sure her breathing was okay.

"I'll be right back, Anya." Sara assured her. "I need to call Kristy to let her know what's going on." She kissed Anya's cheek, ruffled her hair and left to call me.

On her way to the phone, she ran into Mrs. And Mr. Papadakis.

She explained as best she could what had happened.

Mrs. Papadakis told her to thank Anya and she hoped she felt better.

After talking to the Papadakis', Sara went to make her phone call.

Meanwhile, back at my house, the kids were playing quietly. They were still worried about what had happened and they were anxious to know if everyone was all right.

Karen was reading her "Anastasia" book quietly to Emily, while Alex made a get well card for her mother.

As for the boys, they were playing some sort of Power Ranger's game in the playroom.

When the phone rang, I picked it up on the first ring.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey Kristy, it's Sara. Listen, I'm still at the hospital. The girls are doing all right, but the doctor thinks they should stay over night just to be safe. The Papadakis' are staying with Hannie and Sari. I'm gonna stay with Anya. She told me I don't have to, but sometimes she can be as stubborn as her name sake."

"Okay." I said.

"Can you do me a favor?" Sara asked.

"Anything." I replied.

"Could you keep Alex there over night as well as Linny? Maybe see if the Pikes can take him if it'll be too much."

"No problem." I said. "I'm sure my parents won't mind. I'll call my Mom's cell now and tell her what happened."

"Thanks," She replied.

"Tell Anya I hope she feels better." I said.

"I will. Dosvedanya." She said. "Oh, one more thing! Tell Alex Anya and I Both love her and that Anya's gonna be okay."

"Will do." I replied. With that, the conversation ended. I was also going to call the members of the BSC to let them know what was going on.

But first thing was first. I had to call Mom.

After I got off the phone with Mom, I put calling the members on hold for a little while.

The reason was, all of the kids-minus Emily-were now crowding around me. They all wanted information.

"Is Mama okay?" Alex asked.

"Is she coming home?" Karen wanted to know.

"Are my sisters all right?" Linny asked. He had joined us after I had hung up with Sara.

"They're fine." I replied. "They have to stay over night, but they'll be home tomorrow. Sara's staying with Anya," I added, seeing Alex's eyes grow wide with fear. "And your parents are with your sisters." I informed Linny. "And the good news is-"

"There's good news?" Linny asked incredulously.

I nodded.

"What is it?" Karen asked.

I smiled around at them all.

"The good news is, you all get to have a sleepover here tonight. Won't that be fun?"

Karen started jumping up and down with excitement, but the others weren't so enthusiastic.

"Alex can sleep In my room!" She exclaimed. She turned to me for permission. "Please, Kristy?"

"She sure can." I said.

Karen grinned from ear to ear.

Alex frowned.

I could see her lower lip starting to quiver.

I Held my arms out to her and Alex allowed me to hug her.

"What's wrong?" Karen asked. "Don't you want to sleep in my room? We could tell stories and play and…" Her voice trailed off in disappointment as Alex let out a sob, followed by another.

"I want my Mama! I want my Mama!"

"Oh Alex!" I said softly. "It's okay. Your Mama will be home tomorrow. And you know what?"

Alex shook her head.

"You can pick the snack we have after dinner. In fact, we can order dinner." I turned to the group around me. "How does pizza sound?"

Everyone agreed to this.

Alex was still upset, so I just hugged her and tried to help her feel better. I knew she was worried about Anya and I didn't blame her.

After the pizza had been ordered, I sat down with Alex in my arms while we waited for it to arrive.

To say the night was a long one would be an understatement.

Dinner went by without a problem. The trouble didn't' start until after dinner.

As we sat down to watch a movie, Alex cuddled next to me and I took her into my lap.

Once the movie was over, I announced it was time for bed for everyone.

I thought with everything that had happened, an early night was what everyone needed.

The minute I said it, Alex's lower lip started to quiver and she burst into tears.

I had a feeling she wasn't used to sleeping without her mother nearby.

I picked Alex up and started swaying back and forth with the little girl in my arms.

I managed to get Karen to sleep without any problems as well as the boys and Emily.

I had a feeling that Alex wasn't going to go down easily. But to my surprise, I was wrong.

She lay down without a problem and was asleep in fifteen minutes.

A half an hour after everyone fell asleep, Alex came downstairs in tears. She had a bad dream and she wanted Anya.

As I tried to calm her down while trying not to wake up Emily, I had a feeling that I was in for a long night.

After I got Alex back to sleep, I called the members of the BSC to let them know what was going on.

I called Claud first since she was the vice president. I knew she wouldn't freak out as much as the others.

"Oh my Lord!" Claudia shouted the minute I was done explaining. She calmed down after that. "Are Anya and the Papadakis girls all right?"

"Yeah." I replied. "They had to stay at the hospital overnight, but they'll be home tomorrow. I have all of the kids here with me now. I sent them to bed early. I figured we could all use an early night. Mom and Watson should be home in an hour. Alex had trouble falling asleep, but she's okay now."

"I can imagine." Claudia said. "I'm glad they're going to be okay."

"Me too." I said. "I still don't even know what happened. I Guess we'll get the full story from Anya at our next meeting."

Claudia agreed with me. We talked for a few more minutes before I said I had to go. I still had to call the others and Claud had an art project she wanted to work on.

I dialed Mary-Anne and Dawn next.

Mary-Anne answered the phone on the second ring.

After we exchanged hellos, I told her everything I knew about what had happened during Anya's sitting job at the Papadakis'.

True to form, Mary-Anne burst into tears in the middle of my explanation.

I didn't blame her though. I was worried myself.

"They're gonna be fine. " I assured her. "The doctor said they could come home tomorrow."

"I know. " Mary-Anne sniffed. "But it's still really scary. I wonder what happened. That reminds me of the time I Had to call 911 for Jenny P."

"I remember that well." I said. "You were so brave. Anya was too. To keep a level head like that when it happened even though she was feeling terrible too, that took courage."

"Anya's so brave." Mary-Anne agreed. She put Dawn on after a few minutes.

I explained everything to her and she kept calm the whole time.

I wasn't surprised. Dawn's usually a calm and collected person in an emergency.

After talking to my friends a little longer, I hung up so I could call Mal and Jessi.

Jessi had returned to NYC for her ballet performance class, so Mal was feeling a little lonely.

Unfortunately, Claire was in the room when I told Mal what had happened. She began crying out of fear for Anya and Mal had to go to calm her down.

I apologized, even though Mal told me it wasn't my fault.

After I was done talking to Mal, I took a deep breath and tried to relax.

I checked on the kids to make sure they were still asleep.

Sitting on the couch fifteen minutes later, I sighed. The day had certainly been a long one.

Even though I was worried for Anya and Hannie and Sari, I felt better knowing they would be coming home tomorrow.

If there was one thing I did know, it was that the next meeting of the BSC was going to be anything but boring…


	9. Chapter 9

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 9

Everyone woke up early the next morning.

They were all anxious to welcome Anya and the Papadakis girls home.

Karen and Alex were the first ones downstairs for breakfast.

"Morning, you guys!" I greeted the girls the minute they came into the kitchen.

"Morning!" Karen replied happily.

"Is Mama home yet?" Was Alex's reply.

I frowned.

"Not yet. But you know what?"

Alex shook her head as she took her seat next to Karen.

"Sara called this morning and said they'll be home by lunchtime."

This got Alex to smile.

Karen was excited too.

The boys came down a few minutes later.

While Linny was worried about his sisters, he was also hungry.

I giggled as I watched them pile pancakes, bacon and hash browns onto their plates.

The girls followed suit, although Alex stopped laughing sooner than Karen.

After breakfast was over, the kids helped me clean up the kitchen.

Once that was done, they ran upstairs to get ready.

Alex borrowed one of Karen's outfits since she didn't have any clothes of her own since she had stayed over on such short notice.

After the kids and I were ready, we hung out outside. We wanted to be there when the Papadakis' and Springers' came home.

Keeping the kids busy wasn't an easy task, but I managed it with some help from Claudia, who agreed to come over after breakfast to give me a hand.

Mal had also come over, along with Margo and Claire and Charlotte.

Alex ran to Charlotte and Claire the moment they arrived and the three started playing.

"So when are they supposed to be home?" Mal asked as we sat on the grass and watched the kids play.

"Around lunchtime." I replied.

As the kids started looking bored, I got an idea.

"Who wants to play some ball?" I asked the seven or so kids around me.

Everyone agreed in a hurry.

Before I knew it, another practice game was in full swing.

Claudia helped out while Mal watched Emily Michelle.

Even though Claudia didn't have as much experience with sports as Abby, she was pretty good.

Just as Alex was about to hit a home run, Karen started pointing a little ways down the street and shouting, "They're here! They're here! Anastasia's back!"

In all the excitement, Alex dropped the bat mid swing. This caused a chain reaction that Jackie Rodowsky would have been proud of.

The bat sailed across the yard and ended up hitting Nicky Pike in the shoulder.

Nicky yelped indignantly, but Alex didn't hear him. She was running across the street towards the two people who had just gotten out of the red van.

She only had eyes for one person at that moment. As I watched, it was apparent that the feeling was mutual.

Alex flew into Anya's arms a second before Karen got there.

"Privyet, you two!" She greeted warmly.

Karen frowned when Anya patted her head without hugging her.

Fortunately, Sara asked Karen to help carry some grocery bags in the house. This distracted her for a few minutes.

"Mama!" Alex cried happily the minute Anya picked her up. "Mama, I missed you!"

"I missed you too, sweetheart." Anya replied. She held the seven-year-old close as she turned around to greet the kids who had crowded around her.

Mal and I Got there just in time to stop Claire throwing her arms around Anya and knocking her off balance.

"Claire, wait. " Mal said firmly, but gently.

Claire pouted, but did as she was told.

The second Anya put Alex down, Claire attacked her.

Anya laughed as she hugged her back.

"Hey, little one. I missed you too."

Claire grinned.

"Are you all better now?" Claire asked.

Anya nodded.

"Yes." She replied.

"YAY!" Came the cheer from the kids gathered around Anya.

Karen returned a minute later. She walked right past Anya and stood near Charlotte.

Anya was busy talking to the other kids, so she didn't notice Karen's look.

I did though. I could tell there was going to be trouble down the road.

I knew Anya hadn't meant to ignore Karen, but I also knew my sister. She was feeling left out. And if I knew Karen, something told me this wasn't going to be fixed overnight.

Once most of the kids had gone home, Anya sat down on the front porch with Alex and me.

"Are you really all better, Mama?" Alex asked.

Anya smiled down at her and ruffled her light-brown hair.

"Yes, Alex. I promise. I'm fine now."

"I'm glad." I replied. "Anya, what happened?"

Anya sighed.

"Can I tell everyone at once at Friday's meeting? I'm still a little tired."

"Sure." I replied. I decided to leave so Anya could rest. I knew she also needed to spend some time with Alex.

I said good-bye to the two and left for my own house.

It wasn't long before the Papadakis' returned.

Karen was happy again once she knew Hannie was okay. But I could tell something was still bothering her.

I knew she would come to me when she was ready to talk. But I had a feeling this was something she and Anya had to work out on their own.

Friday's meeting was a mass of excitement and curiosity. Everyone was eager to hear what happened to Anya and the Papadakis girls on Wednesday.

I told Anya she didn't have to come to Friday's meeting if she was still feeling run down, but she insisted she was fine.

She proved it when she showed up five minutes early and started joking around with Claud and me.

When everyone else arrived and we had gotten organized, I called the meeting to order.

I had called an early meeting so we would have enough time to talk about what had happened and take calls.

Once I had called the meeting to order, the questions started coming at Anya in rapid succession.

"What happened?." Claud inquired.

"Why did you have to stay in the hospital over night?" Mary-Anne asked.

"Was the food good?" Claudia asked.

This got everyone laughing.

Anya took a deep breath and launched into her story. She had already written up an entry all about it in the club notebook yesterday, but we wanted to hear it from her.

"So I didn't' know what was going on," she said. "But I knew I had to get the kids out of the house. So I grabbed Hannie and Sari and raced over to my house. That's where I fainted. When I woke up, I was in the hospital and Sara was with me. She told me what the nurse had told her about us having carbon monoxide poisoning. I would have come home on Thursday, but I was really sick."

"Do the Papadakis' have cm detectors in their house now? " Mal asked. She knew about cm poisoning because she read about it. Her family also has detectors in their house.

"I'm not sure." Anya answered truthfully. "While we were at the grocery store today, Sara picked a few up."

"That's good." I said. "While I'm sorry that happened to you and the girls, it was a lesson for everyone. All baby-sitter's should know what to do if that ever happened while on a job. They should also ask about carbon monoxide detectors in the home before they sit."

Anya nodded. She frowned.

"I didn't even know what was going on at the time." She said.

"I know. And that's okay." I assured her. "But now you do and you'll be more prepared next time. But you made sure the kids were okay and that's the most important thing."

Anya beamed with pride.

"Were you scared?" Mary-Anne asked.

"Not at first. " Anya said. "At first, I Thought sari just had the flu. Then when Hannie got sick right after Sari did, something clicked in my brain and I knew I had to get them out of the house."

"Wow!" Mal said. "You're really brave."

Anya blushed, but a small grin was spreading across her face.

Just then, the phone rang.

I looked at Anya and smiled encouragingly.

"Hello?" She said. "Baby-sitter's club. Hi, Mrs. Pike. Yes, I'm feeling better. Thanks. A sitter for the girls on Tuesday from eleven to two? Let me check and we'll get right back to you. Bye." With that, she hung up.

"You're free, Anya and so are you, Claud. " Mary-Anne said. "Everyone else is busy."

"I guess the job is ours then. " Anya said, grinning at Claudia.

Claud grinned back.

"Okay." She agreed.

Anya called Mrs. Pike back while Mary-Anne penned the job in the record book.

The phone rang a few more times. In between the phone calls, we talked about anything and everything and munched on some snacks.

Fifteen minutes before the meeting was over, something strange happened in the way of a phone call.

Anya picked it up when it rang because she was the closest one to it.

Claudia and Mal had taken a few calls throughout the forty-five minutes, so it was okay.

"Hello? Baby-sitter's club. Hi, Mrs. Thomas. A sitter for Karen tomorrow from three-thirty until six? Let me check with the others and I'll call you back. Yes, I'm feeling better. Thanks. I also wanna thank you for letting Alex sleepover on such short notice. Aw, thanks. She's definitely a sweetheart. Okay, we'll call you right back."

I had a feeling Mom had told Anya Alex had been no trouble and she was a joy to have. This was true of course.

"Oh okay. Here she is." With that, Anya handed me the phone. "Karen wants to talk to you."

"Okay. " I said. With that, I took the phone from her and pressed it to my ear. "Hello, Karen? What's up?" I asked.

"Kristy, I don't want Anastasia to baby-sit me." She said. "Can you do it or Claudia?"

"Claud might be able to. " I said. "But Karen, why don't you want….I thought you liked her."

"I do. " Karen assured me. "But she doesn't like me anymore." She sounded so sad, I wanted nothing more than to rush home and hug her. But I knew I couldn't. "Karen, we'll talk when I get home. I need to go now though. I love you."

"Love you too." Karen replied. With that, the phone call ended.

Anya gave me a concerned look when the phone call was done.

I shook my head.

"Claud, can you take the job with Karen tomorrow afternoon?"

"Okay." Claudia replied. "But shouldn't we see whose free first?"

"Trust me. " I said. "You need to take this job."

Anya cut in.

"I don't mind doing it." She said. 'I haven't seen Karen since I came home."

I felt torn.

Then I got an idea. Maybe it would work.

"Anya, can you call my Mom back and tell her you'll take the job tomorrow?"

"Okay." Anya said uncertainly. She could tell I was up to something.

Shaking her own head in confusion, Anya made the phone call.

"Hi, Mrs. Thomas? I'll be there around three-thirty to watch Karen and Emily. Okay. Bye."

"Kristy, what's going on?" Mary-Anne asked. She could tell something was wrong right away.

Rather than answering her, I turned my attention to Anya.

"You wanna hang out after the meeting?"

"I would," Anya said, "but I promised Alex she could help me make dinner."

"Okay." I said. "Well, can I call you later tonight?"

"Sure." Anya replied.

We took a few more calls before the meeting ended.

As I sat in Charlie's car with Anya on the way back from the meeting that afternoon, I hoped the problem between Karen and Anya would be resolved soon. I also hoped my plan would work.


	10. Chapter 10

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 10

When I got home that afternoon, Anya and I said good-bye to one another and headed to our respective houses.

The minute I got home, I went to talk to Karen.

I knocked on her door and found her listening to a CD while doing something at her desk.

I was surprised when I heard "Journey to the Past" coming from her CD player. I thought she would be listening to something else since she and our Anastasia were having problems.

"Karen?" I asked. "Can I come in?"

"Sure." Karen replied.

I walked into the room and sat down on the bed.

"Karen, can we talk?" I asked.

"Okay."

She came over and sat down next to me and gave me an expectant look.

"Why are you mad at Anya?" I asked. "And why did you ask for Claud to baby-sit you tomorrow?"

Karen sighed.

"Anastasia doesn't like me anymore." She said. Her lower lip started to quiver and I could see tears ready to gush.

"Oh Karen." I said. I held my arms out and she ran into them. "Anya loves you." I assured her. "I think you need to talk to her about this."

"You think so?" Karen asked tearfully.

"I know so." I replied. "This is something you two need to work out together."

Karen nodded. She stayed in my arms for a few minutes before getting up.

She flipped the CD to "Once Upon a December" and returned to her art project.

I patted her shoulder as I left the room to help Nannie make dinner.

I was glad things were looking up for Anya and Karen's friendship.

After dinner that night, I called Anya on the phone.

"Privyet." She answered.

"Privyet. " I replied. "It's me. Listen, you need to talk to Karen."

"I know. " Anya said, surprising me. "I didn't mean to push her aside. It was just all the kids were crowding around me and then Sara asked Karen to help her and…"

"I know. I know you didn't do it on purpose. But you two need to talk. She thinks you don't like her anymore. She's been pretty upset about it."

"I'll talk to her." Anya said.

"Okay. So what did you guys make for dinner?" I asked.

"Tacos." Anya replied. "Alex loves them! We make them with turkey meat so they're healthier."

I laughed aloud.

"What?" Anya asked.

"Nothing." I said. "You need to meet Dawn. We'll invite her to the next meeting."

"Okay." Anya said.

We talked for a few more minutes before Anya said she had to go and tuck Alex in bed and Karen called me to read her a story.

We said good-bye and the phone call ended.

Climbing the stairs to Karen's room, I smiled to myself. I was glad Karen and Anya would be friends again soon.

To my surprise, Karen chose another book for us to read that night.

I didn't argue. We read a few chapters in "Charlotte's Web" together. I had actually missed the book and I was glad to read it again.

"Sweet dreams, Karen. I love you."

"I love you too." Karen replied.

After making sure Karen was warm enough, I left her "Anastasia" CD on "Once Upon a December" and left the room.

I had helped Watson hook up Charlie's old CD player a few days ago. It was old, but it worked like new. I knew Karen would take good care of it and it would hold her over until she got one of her own.

The next morning, I got a surprise when Anya and Alex rang our doorbell.

"Hi!" Alex said with a grin. "Mama and I wanted to surprise you!" With that, she handed over a bag full of breakfast food.

I grinned.

"This is a nice surprise." I said. "Privyet. Come on in. The kids should be waking up soon."

Anya and Alex followed me into the kitchen.

I let Alex help me get drinks for everyone and set the cups down at everyone's places. She was a good helper and I enjoyed her company.

In the middle of setting the table for breakfast, Anya excused herself to take a bathroom break.

I had a sneaking suspicion she was really going to check on Karen to see if she was awake yet.

As it turned out, Anya had really taken a bathroom break. As she was leaving the bathroom, she heard Emily start talking to her plush animals and My Little Ponies.

Deciding to save me a job, Anya went to get her up.

Emily's eyes lit up upon seeing her.

"Privyet, Emily!" Anya said happily. "Are you ready to get up?"

Emily nodded.

"Ana!" She squealed happily.

"Aw, you are so cute!" Anya gushed as she tickled Emily's tummy. This got my little sister squealing with laughter.

Once Anya had helped her pick out an outfit and Emily was ready, she brought her down to breakfast.

As she hit the last stair, she heard a scream from Karen's room.

Knowing she couldn't' leave Emily, she brought her into the kitchen and deposited her in her booster seat.

"Look who woke up." She said.

"Hey Em!" I greeted. "Were you happy to see Anya?"

Emily giggled in response and nodded.

Once Emily was settled, Anya turned to me.

"Kristy, I think Karen had another nightmare. I heard her scream as I was bringing Em down. I think you need to go and check on her."

I nodded.

"Come with me." I said. "The kids will be fine. Mom's nearby."

Anya nodded. She kissed Alex on her head, told her to be good and followed me upstairs.

Getting to Karen's room, I heard whimpers coming from inside.

I instructed Anya to stay back until the time was right. She nodded and remained out of sight.

Walking into the room, I found Karen on the floor, tears streaming down her face.

Her CD player was still on, but it had switched to "Journey to the Past."

"Karen?" I asked. "What happened? Did something scare you?"

I knelt down in front of her, hoping she would talk to me.

Karen raised her tear stained face to meet my concerned brown eyes.

"Anastasia!" She cried, surprising me. "He hurt her! He killed her! He said Da-Dosvedanya and then he pushed her off the…I couldn't help her! It happened too fast!" She was sobbing hard now, her breath coming in gasps.

"Karen? Anastasia's fine. Our Anastasia's fine. She's okay." I tried to reassure her.

"No she's not!" Karen cried. "Rasputen killed her! I saw it!"

"No he didn't." Anya said. She stepped into the room and knelt down beside me so she was facing Karen. "I'm okay. I'm okay."

Karen looked to where the voice was coming from and gasped. She struggled to get out of my lap and I let her go.

She flew out of my arms and into Anya's.

"Anastasia! Anastasia, I thought he…I was so scared! I thought I'd never see you again! I'm sorry I got mad at you! I'm sorry!" She was crying once again as Anya wrapped her in a hug.

"Shh, shh, it's okay, Karen. It's okay. I'm the one who owes you an apology. I didn't mean to ignore you. I missed you too." She told her truthfully.

"Really?" She asked.

"Yes." Anya replied. She mouthed to me that they would be fine. I got up to leave. "What was this nightmare about, huh?" She asked.

Karen told Anya what she had dreamt about.

As Anya listened, she felt her blood run cold. She had to struggle to stay in the present.

Karen's tearful voice broke her out of her thoughts and memories.

"I thought you were dead!" She cried.

"No." Anya assured her. "I'm fine. I'm okay. Listen, I need to tell you something. But you can't tell anyone else. Alex and Sara know, but they're the only ones."

"Okay." Karen replied. She was curious now.

"Well, it happened when I was nine-years-old. Sara had just tucked me in for bed. I woke up a little while later, but I wasn't in my room anymore. I wasn't even in my house anymore."

As Anya continued her story, Karen grew fascinated by everything Anya relayed to her.

By the time she was done, Karen's blue eyes were as round as saucers.

"So what I Dreamt was real?" She asked. She sounded a little scared.

"Yes." Anya replied. "But as you can see, he didn't succeed."

"I'm glad." Karen said sweetly.

"Me too, kiddo." Anya said as she hugged her close. "Now, what do you say? Let's go downstairs and get some breakfast. I'm hungry."

"Me too!" Karen agreed. She gave Anya a hug and the teenager hugged back.

"Can I talk to Alex about it?" Karen asked as they were leaving her room.

Anya nodded.

"Yeah. But only when you guys are alone or with me or Sara."

"Okay." Karen said earnestly.

When they came back into the kitchen, Karen looked a lot better.

"Everything okay now?" I asked as I set a plate of food in front of both of them.

"Uh-huh." Karen said. She was smiling from ear to ear. She winked at Anya, who gave her a thumbs up in return.

Alex leaned over to her friend.

"Did Mama tell you about..."

"Yeah." Karen replied. "We'll talk after breakfast."

Alex nodded.

After breakfast was over, Karen and Alex went up to her room to talk while Anya and I did the dishes.

"I'm glad you and Karen worked things out." I said as I stuck the last dish in the dish washer.

"Me too." Anya agreed. "Wanna organize a softball game for the kids after lunch?"

"You read my mind." I said with a smile.

It looked like the day was turning out to be a success after all.

I felt better leaving Karen in Anya's care now that I knew they were friends again. And just knowing Karen was happy again was enough to keep my spirits lifted for the rest of the day.


	11. Chapter 11

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 11

"What about Long Island?" Mary-Anne suggested.

Claudia nodded.

"Yeah. We could go bug Abby."

"Nice try." I said. "I was thinking more along the lines of something more kid friendly."

Claud pouted.

"Long island has arcades." She said.

"Let's really think for a second." I said. "What's the most magical place on earth?"

"Ireland!" Claud shouted.

We all gave her a look.

"What? Don't you guys ever watch the Lucky Charms commercials?"

Anya laughed.

"But Kristy's right." She said. "If this is gonna be a vacation for the kids, we need to think of a place they would like to go."

"Walt Disney World." Mal piped up. "My brothers and sisters have never been there before. Then again, the triplets wouldn't be caught dead at a place like that. And if they're not going, Nicky won't wanna go."

"Well, the girls are easy to handle." Claudia replied.

"Most of the time. " Mal agreed. "Now that we've gotten that part taken care of, how are we gonna pay for this? I'm sure the treasury wouldn't be able to cover it."

"Well, I've been saving my baby-sitting money." Anya said. "I don't really do that much shopping."

"How much do you have?" Claud asked.

Before Anya could answer, I shook my head.

"You don't have to give it up." I said. "It's yours."

"Exactly." She said. "And I wanna share it with you guys and the kids."

Mal grinned.

"So how much do you have?" Mary-Anne asked.

Anya did a quick calculation in her head.

"About two-hundred dollars."

"Wow!" Claudia replied.

"Well I Have been baby-sitting for the last two months. And I have done baby-sitting before this." She pointed out.

"Just wow!" Claudia repeated.

"Well, if we pull half of everything we've made and then-" Mal started to say, but I cut her off.

"You guys, wait! We don't have to do that."

"Why not?" Dawn asked. She had joined us for a special meeting and had been quiet almost all the way through it.

"Because, Watson said he would treat us. He hasn't taken us anywhere since last year."

"Awesome!" Mallory exclaimed.

"You said it!" Claudia agreed.

Anya grinned as well.

"I'll still share my money with you guys." She offered. "After all, Alex is coming along."

"So is Karen." I put in.

"Okay, okay." Mal said. "We all know Alex and Karen and probably my sisters are going. But we need to figure out who else is. I'm sure Watson has a limit as to how many charges we can take."

I nodded.

"He said we could take ten or twelve at the most. We already have five, so that leaves seven more."

After thinking for a few minutes, we came to the conclusion that we would invite the Papadakis' to come along in light of what had happened a few days ago. We also thought of asking Charlotte to come since she and Alex had become such good friends.

"I think that's about it." I said. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, anymore club business?"

Mary-Anne nodded.

"I do." She said. "I can't go to Disney World with you guys."

"Why not?" I asked.

"I'm going back to Philadelphia for two weeks to visit family."

"Okay. We'll miss you. But we'll bring you something." I promised her.

"Thanks. " Mary-Anne said as her eyes started to water a little.

The rest of the meeting was spent talking about our upcoming trip and figuring out plans for our camping trip that we were going to take two weeks before summer ended.

Before we knew it, Watson had finalized the plans and everything was set. All that was left was to tell the kids.

We thought having a sleepover at my house would be a great way to surprise them.

Since mostly girls were coming, it was easy enough to get them to agree.

Karen and Alex quickly claimed karen's bedroom, along with Charlotte.

As for Mal's sisters, Claire burst into tears when she realized she had left her plush lamb named BaBa behind.

Mal comforted her as best she could, but it was no use.

Finally, Mrs. Pike arrived with the lamb, along with Margo's toothbrush.

Once all the kids were settled and in their pajamas, we gathered them in the living room for a talk.

"Okay, you guys!" I said in true president fashion. "We have a surprise for you. Now, do you know what the best part about summer is?"

Alex's hand shot up first.

I smiled at her.

"Go on, Alex." I said. "And you don't have to raise your hand."

Alex nodded.

"Yeah," David Michael said. He had joined us for this meeting since he would be coming on the trip. "This isn't school, stupid."

"Hey!" Alex shot back. She was on her feet in an instant and her hands were planted on her hips.

I had to keep from laughing. The reason was she reminded me of "Anastasia's" Anya in the movie when she was eight.

"Take that back!" She demanded.

"Make me." David Michael challenged.

"Alexandra Nicole Springer…" Anastasia said sternly.

Alex rounded on her mother.

"What? He started it."

Anya gave her a look that clearly stated she was skating on thin ice.

"Well he did." The seven-year-old insisted.

"David Michael…" I said warningly.

David Michael sighed, but apologized nonetheless.

"It's about time." Alex said evenly.

"Alexandra…." Anya said. "You're really pushing it."

Alex sighed and sat down.

"Thank you." Anya said.

But when her mother wasn't looking, Alex threw a glare at David Michael.

"You were saying. " I said to Alex.

"Summer vacations." She said. She had calmed down by this point.

"That's right! Now, can you think of a place all of you would want to go?"

The kids shouted in unison.

"Disney world!"

Anya smiled at me and I grinned in return.

Karen spoke up just then.

"Are we really going to Walt Disney World, Kristy?" She asked, trying her best to use her indoor voice.

"Well…" I said, dragging it out. "Why don't you guys see for yourselves." With that, I pulled out several bags from .

They each had a plush animal in them, along with a brochure for our upcoming vacation.

"Awesome!" Alex cried the minute hers was open. She grinned at her mother. "Thanks, Mama!"

Anya nodded.

"NO problem." She said

We had all picked out plush animals we knew the kids would like.

Some of the kids got plush dolls instead.

For example, Anya had chosen a plush Lilo for Alex, since Lilo and Stitch was her favorite movie.

For Karen, I had gotten her a plush Ariel.

For Emily Michelle, I had gotten her a plush Pluto, since she had fallen in love with him since she had turn three.

For Sari, Karen had picked out a plush Goofy, since he was her favorite.

For Hannie, I had picked out a plush Pocahontas and Charlotte had gotten a plush Pooh bear.

For Linny, we had played it safe and gotten him a plush Woody.

Mal had picked out a plush Mickey for Claire and a plush Tigger for Margo.

Once all the kids had their new friends, we told them more about the trip and allowed them to ask questions.

Just then, Sari hugged Goofy to her.

She laughed as his voice filled the room.

""Hello! My name's Goofy! Can I have a hug?"

As Sari and Emily played with their new toys that both talked, I glanced at Anya.

"Did you know they were going to do that?" I asked.

Anya shook her head.

"No. Now wonder it was twenty bucks." She whispered.

Just then, the sound of "Part of Your World" filled the room, followed by Karen's squeals of delight.

After the kids had calmed down, we made them some hot chocolate and allowed them to watch a movie before going to bed.

Halfway through The little Mermaid, the younger kids fell asleep.

Anya and I tucked the younger girls in bed and made sure they were okay before leaving the room.

I kissed Emily and Anya did the same with Sari.

Sari was doing well for this being her first time away from home.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we found Alex half asleep and Karen not far behind.

Charlotte was reading her copy of "Charlotte's Web" while Hannie watched the rest of the movie with the Pike girls.

"Okay, you guys." Anya said. "it's time for bed."

There was a chorus of no and aw man from the six to nine year-olds in the room.

The only ones who didn't' put up a fight were Alex and Karen.

I picked Karen up while Anya got Alex.

We tucked them in Karen's room before going back downstairs to deal with the storm that was the Pikes.

Charlotte went upstairs without complaint, while Hannie agreed with Margo and Claire.

Finally, after twenty-minutes of arguing, the girls went to bed.

Anya, Mal and I camped out in my room for the night. This was so we could be close by in case the kids needed us.

"I'm glad the kids are excited about the trip." Anya said as she settled down in her sleeping bag.

"Me too." I said. "It's gonna be fun."

"Something tells me this is gonna be a trip we won't forget any time soon." Mal said as a yawn escaped her lips.

Something told me she was right.

Somewhere around three in the morning, the silence of the house was broken by an unearthly noise, followed by the wail of two three-year-old's.

Anya and I were up in a flash. Mal woke up as well, but we told her to go back to bed since it didn't' concern her sisters.

As we reached Emily's room, we heard Goofy say something to the affect of, "I love hugs, can I have one? You give the best hugs In the whole wide world!"

We entered the room to find both girls in tears.

Anya rushed to Sari's side while I comforted Emily.

"Shh, shh, it's okay, Em." I said, bouncing her a little. "What happened, huh? Come on. Let's get you a drink of water." With that, I took Emily downstairs and returned with two sippy cups full of water.

I handed one of the cups to Anya and helped Emily sip from the other.

"Goofy bad!" Emily declared.

"No, no." I said. "Goofy's not bad. He's just loud."

"Bad doggie!" Emily said. She glared at Goofy.

Anya managed to settle both children down by singing to them.

"Sing Cember, please Anya?" Sari asked.

"Of course I will." Anya said. With that, she started to sing.

It wasn't' long before both girls were fast asleep once again.

When we returned to my room, Anya sighed.

"Do you think it's too late to call and get our money back? We can say Goofy's a hazard to kids."

"Anya!" I said with a laugh.

"Well it's true." She insisted as she climbed back into her sleeping bag. "Either that or a hazard to baby-sitters."

"Something tells me he never learned how to tell time." I said dryly from my bed.

Anya mumbled something in Russian in reply.

I took that to mean she was off to dreamland once again.

It wasn't long before I fell back to sleep too.


	12. Chapter 12

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 12

The next morning we were woken up by what sounded like a conversation between Goofy, Mickey and Pluto.

Pluto was barking as dogs often did, while Mickey and Goofy held a slightly mish mashed conversation.

Alex came into the room a few minutes later. She headed straight for her mother and crawled onto her stomach.

Anya tried to stay asleep, but she couldn't fool her little girl.

"Mama, come on!" Alex said. "It's time to get ready to go."

Anya giggled.

"Alex, honey, the trip isn't' until tomorrow." She tweaked her nose playfully and started tickling her ribs.

This officially woke me and Mal up, due to the fact that Alex was laughing uncontrollably.

Just then, Karen joined us. She jumped on my bed and climbed on top of me.

"Did Alex show you how to do that? " I asked her.

"NO." She replied. "Kristy?"

"Yes?" I said as I smoothed a strand of her blond hair out of her face.

"I heard a strange noise last night. It sounded like a dog howling. Was Shannon in heat?"

I almost fell out of bed at my sister's words. It was a good thing I hadn't, because I would have fallen on top of Mal.

"Karen! Where did you hear that?" I asked.

"I heard Sam say it when he was talking about his last date with his girlfriend, Christina." She replied.

I groaned inwardly. I made a mental note to talk to Sam about keeping his date talk to a minimum whenever the kids were around.

"Mama, what's in heat mean?" Alex asked.

"Never mind, sweetie." Anya replied. "Come on. Let's go make sure you have everything packed for tomorrow. Okay?"

Alex nodded. She climbed off her mother and took her hand.

Fortunately, Alex's attention was quickly diverted when she was able to help Anya pack her suitcase.

Karen, however, wasn't so easily distracted.

"So?" Karen asked.

"SO what?" I replied.

"Was Shannon in heat last night?"

Rather than answer the question, I asked one of my own.

"Karen Brewer, do you even know what in heat means?"

Karen nodded.

"Yeah." She said. "It's when dogs want to have babies." She replied.

My jaw nearly hit the ground!

"Karen! I don't want to hear another word about this. Do you understand me?"

"Kristy, I'm just curious." She said.

"You know what curiosity did to the cat, don't you?" I asked.

"Did he want to know about being in heat too?" Karen asked.

"Karen Brewer, if you don't' drop the subject right now, you're going on time out."

Karen sighed.

"Fine. I'm sorry."

"It's okay." I said.

Karen left my room shortly afterwards.

When I went to get Emily and Sari up, I found Emily sitting against her big girl bed. She was pointing her finger at someone.

"Don't' move!" She said. "Time out."

I laughed when I saw who was sitting in the corner.

"Emily," I said. "Goofy didn't' mean to scare you."

Emily looked up at me.

"Bad doggie." She said again.

I giggled as I scooped her up and gave her a hug.

"You're something else all right. Do you know that?"

Emily nodded.

I took her downstairs where the rest of my family was eating breakfast, along with my friends and our charges.

Alex was glaring at Karen and sitting as far away from her as possible.

I glanced to Anya for a clue and she shook her head.

"I'll tell you later." She said.

I nodded.

"Karen didn't' play twenty questions with her again, did she?" I asked. I remembered what Karen had done the day we had first met Alexandra.

Aanya nodded.

"Maybe having Alex not talk to her for a while will teach her a lesson."

"Let's just say Alex said something in Russian I had to correct her for."

"Not anything too bad I hope." I said.

"No. She mostly got it from Sara, but thank God she got one of the pronunciations wrong."

"Maybe she didn't know what she was saying." I said in Alex's defense.

"Oh she knew perfectly well what she was saying." Anya said, narrowing her eyes at her daughter. "She's fluent in Russian. She just mixed up a word or two. But believe me, I know where she was going with her train of thought."

I Nodded.

Breakfast went by without a hitch after that.

After it was over, the Pikes went home until the next day, while Anya and Alex stuck around.

Charlotte hung around as well, while Sari went home for the night.

Once the kitchen had been cleaned up, we all retired to the living room to relax for a little while.

We got Emily ready for the day, while the older girls got dressed on their own.

"Emily," I said as we entered her room.

I waited until she was looking at me.

"Goofy looks kind of sad to me. Maybe his time out was long enough. I'm sure he's sorry for what he did."

Emily nodded slowly. She went over to Goofy and took him off the chair he was sitting on.

She put him half hazardly on her bed as though she didn't' care about him.

I made a mental note to give Goofy back to Sari the next day.

After Emily was ready, I took her back downstairs to hang out with everyone else.

The day of the trip came sooner than I expected. Before I knew it, almost every member of the BSC and twelve of our charges, along with Watson, Mom and the Papadakis' were standing in the airport waiting to pre board.

The kids who had ended up coming along were as follows: Alex, Karen, Charlotte, Hannie, Sari, Linny, David Michael, Emily, Margo, Claire, Mariah and Gabbie Perkins.

The Perkins girls were sweet kids and one of our favorite families to sit for. They had also grown fond of Anya after meeting her a few weeks ago.

The Perkins girls had bought thei rown Disney friends to bring along on the trip.

Gabbi had brought her own Princess Jasmine doll, while Mariah had brought a plush Kessie from Winnie-the-Pooh.

Even though the Perkins girls, along with Charlotte and Alex were trying their best to be patient, the others weren't doing so well.

David Michael and Linny kept teasing Emily and Sari, which made them cry every couple of minutes.

David Michael kept taking Pluto from Emily and acting like he was going to throw him over the side of an escalator.

Mom warned him to cut it out, but David Michael wouldn't listen.

Unfortunately, during one of his trick attempts, he let go and Pluto went for a ride on the escalator.

Emily burst into tears and ran to me while Mom gave it to David Michael verbally.

A nice security guard tried her best to get Pluto back, but she couldn't reach him.

I comforted Emily by promising her we'd buy her another one in Walt Disney World.

Emily was inconsolable and cried until we boarded the plane. She just kept saying "Pluto gone." Over and over again.

Karen tried to share Ariel with her, but Emily wouldn't have any of it.

Once we boarded the plane, the kids settled down.

There were a few scattered disagreements as to who was sitting with whom, but they got sorted quickly.

A few minutes after take off, the kids started singing their favorite Disney songs.

Everything was fine until Karen started singing "It's a Small World."

It wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't gotten the other passengers to sing along with her.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the song was stopped abruptly by someone shouting that they were going to be sick.

Knowing who it was, Mallory went into action immediately.

Margo was known to get car sick, air sick and sea sick, so we were all accustomed by now. That didn't mean we enjoyed it.

As we leveled out, Sari and Emily both started to cry.

I thought Emily was still upset about losing Pluto. I was about to comfort her, when I saw her hands were over her ears.

I glanced over at Mal and saw Sari had the same problem.

If they had been a little older, I would have given them gum to chew on, but I knew that could be dangerous.

Anya was giving it to a slightly whimpering Alex as Mom handed Karen a piece.

Thinking quickly, I took two soft pretzels out of my bag and broke off a piece for each toddler.

I was about to give one to Gabbers. But when I glanced over at her, I saw she was playing happily with her sister and Charlotte, so I didn't' worry about her.

Once the plane had steadied, the kids were okay.

I heard Mom chewing David Michael out for what he had done to Pluto.

Anya leaned over to me and whispered something in my ear. I nodded.

"Hey!" I said to the kids sitting around us and behind us. "Who wants to play telephone!"

Most of the older kids agreed.

Since Alex was closest to me, I leaned over and whispered something in her ear. She giggled and passed the secret along to Karen, who passed it along to Gabbers, who passed it along to her sister, who passed it along to Margo and so on an so on.

By the time Charlotte said the sentence aloud, we all were cracking up.

"Anastasia wasted fast food rum and cheerios." "No!" Alex said with a giggle. "Mama doesn't drink!"

"It's all in fun." I said. "Go ahead, Alex. Tell them the real sentence."

"Anastasia was the last Romanoff Princess." She said.

"Oh!" Charlotte said with a giggle. "Oops!"

"It's okay, Char." Anya said. "Like Kristy said, it's all in fun. Who wants to go next?"

Karen raised her hand and the game began again.

After two more rounds, we started singing again.

Karen wanted to sing 99 bottles of pop on the wall, but I quickly put a stop to that.

The same went with "How much is that doggie in the window." And the ever popular but very annoying "Lamb Chops" theme song.

"Why can't we sing the dog song?" Karen asked.

"Well, because I don't want Emily to get upset." I said.

"OH yeah." Karen said in realization. "David Michael lost Pluto."

Alex mumbled something that Karen asked her to repeat.

"He lost more than Pluto." She said. "He lost his mind!"

Anya giggled despite herself. Alex was truly cute.


	13. Chapter 13

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 13

Before I knew it, the plane had landed and we were all getting off.

Some like Margo were happy to disembark.

But others, like Gabby wanted to stay on.

I explained we would be taking another plane back. This cheered her up immensely.

When we got to the hotel, there was a surprise waiting for Emily.

Her eyes lit up and she squealed happily, "Pluto!"

"How did…?" I asked as I saw what Emily was pointing at.

The woman behind the desk, who introduced herself as Ava, explained what had happened.

"It's a good thing her name was written on the tag, along with where you were going." She said. "Here you go, sweetie." With that, she handed Emily back Pluto.

"Thank you." I said.

"No problem." Ava replied. "But you might wanna be careful because of the leash laws in Florida."

I giggled, but Emily didn't get it. She was too young. "What leash laws?" Karen asked as we walked up to our rooms.

"I'll explain later." I replied.

Karen nodded.

When we entered the first of fourteen rooms we would be sharing for the two weeks we would be staying there, Karen immediately announced that she wanted to share a room with me.

"Calm down." I said. "We'll figure it out."

After everything was sorted out, Karen got her wish, along with having Alex as a playmate.

After we got unpacked and settled in, I asked the loaded question.

"What do you guys want to do first?"

"You shouldn't have asked that." Anya said knowingly.

I nodded, realizing my mistake too late.

"The Rainforest café!" Alex and Karen said in unison.

"Meet Mickey!" Sari said.

Emily giggled as she made Pluto bark.

"Ride space mountain!" David Michael said.

"Not so fast, young man." Mom said with a glare. "We need to talk." With that, she led David Michael away as we all tried to figure out what to do.

We all knew the little ones were hungry, so it looked like we were going to get something to eat first. The only question was, where would we end up?

"I wanna meet Tinker Bell!" Gabby cried excitedly.

Charlotte nodded in agreement, although she was quieter about it.

Mariah nodded as well.

"Okay." I said. "Let's get something to eat first and then we can start the fun."

Everyone agreed to that. We shepherded the kids out of the hotel and into the parks.

"Kristy?" Emily said as we were half way downstairs.

"Yeah?" I said. I was ready for her to say she had to go potty, but she didn't.

"Pluto come too?" She asked.

"Sure!" I said. "In fact, all of you can bring your new friends along."

In the end, Alex, Karen, Sari, Mariah and Gabby were the only other ones who did so.

When we entered the park, the kids' eyes grew wide with excitement and wonder.

Anya promised a slightly disappointed Alex that we would go to the rainforest café before we left. She reminded her daughter that we had two weeks there.

We rode the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.

From there, we traveled to main street.

When we got there, Emily started squealing happily.

"Kristy! Kristy!" She shouted. "Mickey, Mickey!"

Gabby giggled and nodded as she joined my sister.

"Kristy, can we meet him, please?" Gabby asked. She was more verbal than Emily and had better sentence structure.

"Sure!" I said.

"I wanna meet Ariel!" Karen said.

"Me too!" Alex chimed in. "Mama, can we?" SHE asked, turning to Anya.

"Maybe." She said. "We'll see."

Alex grinned.

"I don't think Ariel's here you guys." Mal said.

"I know she is. " Karen said confidently.

I mouthed to Mal to let it go and she nodded.

After we were seated at a table, we started helping the kids decide what they wanted to eat.

Alex chose a chicken finger basket with honey mustard, while Karen had the shrimp basket and Charlotte had a cheeseburger. She gave half of her fries to Gabby, who was getting a turkey sandwich.

After everyone had ordered their food, we started talking about what we wanted to do afterwards.

When are waitress, who was named Belle, strangely enough, came back, Emily piped up.

"Pluto's hungry too." She said.

Belle grinned.

"Well, sweetie, maybe you can share your lunch with him. I'll even bring you a bowl." With that, she left. SHE soon returned with a bone made of plastic and set it on a plate. "There you go." She said.

"What do you say, Em?" I Prompted.  
"Thank you." Emily said. She made Pluto bark.

"He's saying thank you too."

"You're both very welcome." She said. With that, she left.

Once we finished lunch, we headed for Mickey's Toon town fair. We thought it would be a good way to get the kids into the Disney spirit.

Anya was carrying Sari, while Hannie and Karen walked hand in hand. I wasn't surprised. They did everything together.

Alex looked a little put out until Charlotte invited her to walk with her.

I smiled at Char and gave her a thumbs up as we entered Mickey's toon town fair.

"Look!" Alex cried as she pointed up at the screen.

Everyone glanced to where she was pointing.

The movie or whatever it was kept the kids occupied for twenty-minutes.

After that, they started getting restless.

"Mama, I'm bored!" Alex said in a less than nice tone.

"Sweetheart, it won't be much longer." Anya said.

"You didn't have to wait this long to meet the doujer empress." Alex mumbled.

Anya giggled.

"No. But this is different." She said.

Karen giggled, having heard her.

"Why don't' we play a game." Anya suggested.

"What kind?" Gabby asked. "What kind of game, Anastasia Springer?"

Anya smiled at Gabby.

"Let's play the guess the experiment game!" Alex suggested.

"Alex, I don't think everyone has seen as many episodes of Lilo and Stitch as you have."

"I have." Karen piped up.

Anya laughed gently.

"Wait a minute." I said suddenly. "Alex, you're a genius."  
"I am?"

"We'll each sing a line from a Disney song and the others will have to guess what movie it's from."

The kids agreed to this and we started to play.

The time flew by quickly.

Before we knew it, the kids were gearing up to meet Mickey and Minnie.

Karen and Alex hung back with Mal.

"What's up?" She asked.

"I wanna meet Ariel." She said.

Mal nodded and chose to not say anything.

Alex ran over to where Anya was standing with Margo and Claire.

"You decided to meet the Disney Fairies, huh?" She asked.

Alex nodded.

Margo started jumping up and down as she saw something in the distance that we couldn't see yet.

As the figure came closer, Alex joined her.

It seemed like it was almost time.

While I took Margo's hand and Anya led Alex over to the right area, Alex's grin grew.

After the girls met the fairies, we stopped so Sari and Emily could meet Pooh Bear.

Emily loved Pooh so much, she didn't' wanna say good-bye.

I made a mental note to get her a plush one at the first store we came across.

After the character meet and greet was over, we headed for fantasy land. There, the kids were immediately taken in by Mickey's phill her magic show. I have to say us baby-sitters liked it too.

We all laughed a lot.

However, when Donald's head went through the wall, Sari started to cry.

Anya tried to help her, but she was inconsolable for five minutes.

Once the show was over, we headed to a bench to rest and see what the kids wanted to do next.

As Sari continued to cry, a woman wearing an official ID came up to us.

"Is she okay?" She asked. "By the way, my name is Cindy."

I introduced myself and Anya did the same.

Mal was too busy explaining to Claire why it wasn't a good idea to let Mickey go swimming in the river

"She's just a little upset." Anya explained. "I think she thinks that Donald really got hurt."

Cindy nodded. She knelt down to Sari's level and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Oh don't worry, sweetie. " She said. "Donald's fine." To prove her point, she reached into a basket she had been carrying and pulled out a mini plush of Donald.

She handed him to Sari and smiled gently.

"There you go. " She said. "Now you can keep him safe."

"Magic show bad!" Sari said.

I giggled despite myself.

"Well, sweetheart, there are just something's that aren't so magical." With that, she gave Sari another smile, smiled at us and left.

Just then, Karen let out a shriek of fright.

I had known her long enough to tell her different shrieks apart.

"I knew this one meant trouble.

"Alex!" She cried.

I jumped up and Anya did the same at Karen's pronouncement.

Anya was at her daughter's side in an instant while Karen hovered nearby worriedly.

Alex was on her knees, her right hand on her forehead as though she was in pain.


	14. Chapter 14

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 14

"Alex?" Anya asked. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"What happened!" Karen cried.

I pulled my sister back.

"We need to let Anya help her." I said. "And then we'll figure it out."

Karen nodded, but she still looked worried.

Anya asked Alex something softly in Russian.

Alex nodded.

She answered her mother in English before the tears of pain came.

"All right." Anya said. "It's okay. You're going to feel better soon." With that, she picked her up and headed for the nearest drink cart.

She purchased a fruit punch and returned to us a few minutes later.

Once it was apparent that a drink alone wasn't going to help, Anya went in search of a medical tent.

This affectively sent Karen over the edge and she burst into tears.

She kept insisting that Alex was going to die as I tried to comfort her. While I was pretty sure Alex wasn't going to leave us any time soon, I still wasn't sure what had happened in the first place.

"Kristy, what's going on?" Charlotte asked as she came up next to us.

"I'm not sure, Char." I replied truthfully. "I guess Alex felt a little sick and Anya went to get her some help."

"I wish my Mom was here." Charlotte said. "She would know how to help Alex."

I hugged Charlotte close. She was a sweetheart.

Charlotte's mother, Dr. Johanssen was a doctor at Stoneybrook Medical Center.

A half an hour later, Anya returned with Alex who looked a lot better than when she had left.

It was all I could do to stop Karen from jumping on top of her.

"Now that Alex is better," Karen said, turning to me, 'can we go on the Haunted Mansion? Please, Kristy?"

I laughed. It was just like Karen to switch subjects at lightening speed.

After doing a quick Baby-sitting switch since Sari, Emily and Gabby were too young to go on the ride and some of the older kids didn't want to, I headed off with Anya, Karen, Alex, Margo and Hannie for the Haunted Mansion.

As we got into our dune buggies, Karen grinned at me.

"This is so cool!" She exclaimed.

I hoped Karen still thought so when the ride began.

As the ride started, Karen's eyes grew wide behind her glasses. She was truly in her element.

As the hitchhiking ghosts came aboard, Karen screamed, but I could tell she was having fun. I also had a feeling that she would be spending many a night in our attic when we got back home, telling Ben Brewer all about it.

As we passed someone trying to get out of a coffin, I heard another scream, but this time I knew whoever had let it out wasn't enjoying themselves.

I glance to my right to check on Margo, but she was fine.

I was a little surprised that Margo hadn't gotten sick by now.

As I glanced back to where Anya and Alex were sitting, I frowned when I saw the little girl crying into her mother's shoulder.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I'll explain later." She said.

Karen glanced back as well and looked confused.

"It's only pretend." She said. "Everyone knows that."

"Karen." I said sternly.

As we entered the graveyard, a hitchhiking ghost sat next to Karen on her left.

My sister shrieked.

I raised my eyebrows.

Karen tried to act nonchalant, but I could tell that had scared her a little bit.

She blushed and mumbled an apology to Alex as the ride continued.

Once it was over, we met up with everyone else for dinner.

We ended up eating dinner in Tomorrowland before heading back to the hotel for the night.

While I tried to talk Karen out of ordering a chocolate sundae for dinner, Anya coaxed Alex into eating something small.

She was still a little shaken up from the Haunted Mansion, so she wasn't saying much.

Karen was particularly annoyed by this and started talking to Hannie instead.

After the kids ordered their meals and we baby-sitters had ordered, we started a light conversation.

"I wish Abby was here." Mal said.

Claud nodded.

"I can just hear her now. Yeah, I'll have the roast Donald duck and a side of Shere Khan flawn. And I think I'll have some Mickey moose for dessert."

We all cracked up at that.

Claud gave us a confused look.

"I wasn't kidding about the Mickey moose." She said.

That didn't surprise me in the least.

I took over just then.

"You don't have any roast Donald Duck? That's too bad. How about some barbue quack?"

This got everyone laughing.

I was grateful Sari was at the other end of the table.

When we reached the hotel, we separated into our groups for the night.

That meant Anya, Alex, Karen and I were in one room, while Mal, Margo, Claire and their mother were in another room.

Claudia was in a room with the Perkins girls and Charlotte.

Mom was keeping David Michael with her after the incident with Pluto.

Emily was in Mom and Dad's room.

The Papadakis' had a room to themselves and Watson and Mom were sharing of course.

After the kids were ready for bed, Karen asked Alex if she wanted to play a game.

"No thanks. " Alex said. "I'm gonna go to bed. I'm really tired."

Karen nodded.

"You're no fun anymore." She said.

"Karen!" Anya said, taken aback. "That's a little unfair. You need to say you're sorry. Remember, Alex was sick today. She'll play with you tomorrow."

Karen mumbled an apology before going over to a bed which she was sharing with me.

She got out her copy of "The Secret Language" and started reading it.

I could tell she wasn't really reading because she hadn't put her blue glasses on.

It wasn't long before both girls were fast asleep.

Once they were out, I wasted no time.

"So what happened when we were on the Haunted Mansion ride?" I asked.

Anya sighed.

"When that guy started coming out of the coffin, it reminded Alex of Rasputin."

I nodded.

"Do you think she's gonna be okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Oh yeah." She said. "She'll be fine by tomorrow."

"That's good." I said. "I'm sorry about Karen."

"It's okay." Anya replied. "Kids will fight. It's natural. I didn't' mean to scold her."

I shook my head.

"She needed it. " I replied. "I would have done it if you hadn't stepped in."

Anya smiled at me from her bed across the room.

"Night." She whispered.

"Night." I replied.

After Anya was done singing Alex to sleep, we watched a half an hour of Disney Channel before falling asleep. Little did we know how short it would last.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, I felt Karen moving beside me. I figured she was dreaming, so I decided to leave her alone. She hadn't started crying or calling out for me, so I figured whatever she was dreaming about wasn't scary.

Pulling Karen close, I rolled over and fell back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Karen was in a very strange dream of her own.

She was back in her house in Stoneybrook, but something was very different.

Instead of Claud, Abby, Stacey or even Mal watching her, there was someone very Goofy looking after her.

In the dream, Karen had a little sister. But it wasn't' Emily.

This little girl had blond hair like Karen, but green eyes instead of blue.

Her hair was also a darker shade of blond.

Her name was Julie. Karen didn't' know how she knew that, she just did.

"Uh, Goofy," Karen started when she found him in the kitchen. "That's not how Nannie or my Nanny Mary Perkins makes a bottle."

"Yeah, but this way is just as affective." He said. He got a thoughtful look on his face. "Now, where'd those matches go? Fire warms up everything."

Julie giggled from her bassinet.

"He is funny." Karen conceded. "But I don't think he's ever baby-sat before."

She followed Goofy into the hall closet where he proceeded to knock down three boxes full of Christmas lights in his search for the matches.

"Whoops!" He said.

"Goofy, I really don't think this is such a good idea." Karen said.

"Sure it is!" Goofy said. "This will heat things up faster."

"But it's not safe!" Karen exclaimed. "Mommy and Daddy say not to ever play with fire."

"What's the worse that could happen? Besides, we're not playing' with fire . We're using' it to warm up a bottle."

Karen sighed.

"Did you pass baby-sitting school?" She asked.

"Oh gorsh! I don't remember." He said.

"That's what I thought." Karen decided. "Something tells me you need to watch one of those how-to videos."

"Those are fun!" He said. "And informative too."

Karen rolled her eyes.

"When you pay attention to them." She said.

"It's not my fault there confusing." He said.

"They're pretty easy for me to understand." She pointed out. "And I'm eight!"

"Can you and I watch 'em together? " He asked.

"Sure. But Julie needs to be fed first. Let me do it." With that, she took the bottle, filled it with formula and warmed it up in the microwave.

When the bottle was done, Karen fed Julie while they watched a How-to video all about baby-sitting with Goofy.

A little while later, it was time for Julie's next feeding.

Goofy decided since he was the baby-sitter, he would feed her this time.

Going into the kitchen, he took a fresh bottle out of the cabinet, while knocking several things over in the process.

Karen ran in, holding Julie in her arms.

"You made a huge mess!" Karen shouted. "Julie's cleaner than you are and she's only five-months-old." With that, she glared and left the room.

"Now that wasn't' very nice." Goofy said.

After filling the bottle with formula, Goofy put it on the stove.

He then lit the stove with a match and watched in satisfaction as the bottle heated up.

"See? I knew it would work the whole time." He said. "See? I'm a great baby-sitter."

Without warning, the stove ignited, sending Goofy head first up the Chimney.

Karen heard the explosion and ran out of the house as fast as she could while still holding onto Julie.

Meanwhile, Goofy was stuck in the Chimney pretty good.

"Explosive." He said as he looked around for someone to get him out.

He was kind of hoping that Bert would come by on his daily rounds of sweeping the Chimney.

I was woken up by Karen sitting up abruptly.

I sat up as well, still half asleep.

"Kristy?" She asked.

"Uh-huh." I said.

"Never hire Goofy to baby-sit for us."

"Okay." I said before lying back down and promptly falling asleep again.

Meanwhile, across the room from us, Alex was in a dream of her own. Only this one wasn't so gooffy.

Alex looked around at where she was, but it was hard to see. The darkness surrounded her, making her shiver with fear.

It was only when she looked down that she recognized where she was.

It was a place she never wanted to be again.

Alex wanted out of there and fast. She wanted her Mama there with her as well. At least when Anya had been with her before, it wasn't so bad.

As the seven-year-old stepped forward, she heard a voice call out to her through the darkness.

"Alexandra." It said.

Alex tried to be brave.

"Whose there? " She demanded.

"Alexandra." It said again. "My, have you grown since the last time we met."

"Whose there?" Alex demanded yet again. "How do you know my name?"

"So quick to forget." The disembodied voice said. "Your mother was the same way. It took her ten years to remember who I was! But I don't think it'll take you quite that long. Think, child."

"As realization hit, the little girl shook her head.

"No. It can't be." She said. "Ya-you're dead."

"In a manner of speaking." HE said. "I wouldn't be if it wasn't for your mother."

"What does Mama have to do with this?" Alex asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know." The voice said. "I give you fair warning, Alexandra, enjoy your mother while you can because once I have my revenge…" His voice trailed off in a hiss and was gone.

As Alex stood there, she felt herself falling to the ground. Only she just kept falling.

As she hit the ground, she heard someone calling her name as well as some strange noises.

Jerking awake a few minutes later, Alex found herself gazing into her mother's cobalt eyes, while the noises she had heard started to make sense now that she was awake.

As she tried to concentrate on the conversation Mickey and Goofy were having, she felt her mother pull her into her arms.

But even as she felt safe, she couldn't get the voice out of her head.

"Shh, shh," Anya soothed. She put a hand through Alex's light brown hair and kissed her cheek. "Shh, Alex, it's okay. You're safe now. What happened, huh? What scared my baby girl?"

Alex tried to answer her mother's question, but she was too overcome by tears to speak.

Once she had calmed down, she told her mother everything that had happened in her nightmare

"Mama, he said he wanted to kill you!" Alex cried before dissolving into tears while burying her face in Anya's right shoulder.

Anya comforted her daughter as best she could. She assured her she was safe-that they both were safe and sung her "Once Upon a December" hoping it would help her calm down.

After her mother had sung their song one more time, Alex started to relax. Her breathing went back to normal and her tears started to subside.

"That's my girl." Anya soothed. "That's my good girl." With that, she kissed Alex's head and resumed stroking her hair.

Meanwhile, I had awoken when Karen unceremoniously jabbed me in the ribs before hitting me in the head.

She woke up a minute later and rubbed at her eyes.

Her first question to me was, "Kristy, can we go see Beauty and the Beast?"

I grinned despite myself.

Even though the morning had gotten off to a rough start, I had a feeling the day ahead was going to be full of surprises for everyone…


	15. Chapter 15

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 15

After everyone had gotten ready, we headed downstairs for breakfast.

Karen asked Alex to sit next to her, but she decided to sit next to her mother instead.

The older kids ordered their breakfasts and I helped Emily order hers.

As we sat there, munching on pancakes, bacon, hash browns and French toast, Anya asked everyone what they wanted to do.

Margo spoke up before anyone else could.

"I want to go on Tower of Terror."

"NO way!" Mal said sternly.

"I wanna go too!" Claire declared.

"Neither of you are going." Mal said still in that same stern tone.

Claire glared at her eldest sister. Her lower lip jutted out and I had a feeling I knew what was going to happen next.

"No fair! No fair!" Claire yelled.

Mallory blushed to the roots of her hair and glanced at me for help.

As Claire continued to throw her mini tantrum, we started getting looks from the people across the way.

"Mama, I have to go to the bathroom." Alex said.

"Okay. Take someone with you though." She advised. "I don't want you going anywhere alone."

Alex nodded. She didn't' dare object. She was still pretty shaken from her dream.

"I'll go with you!" Karen volunteered.

"Thanks, Karen." Anya said.

Karen nodded. She took Alex's hand and the two were off.

While all this was going on, Claire was still in full tantrum mode.

Mal's embarrassment was clearly evident on her face along with some anger.

Having no other choice, she picked Claire up and carried her youngest sister out of the food court for a little talk.

Anya, Claud and I glanced at one another.

"Does Claire do this often?" Anya asked.

"Not as much as she used to." I replied. "To tell you the truth, it's been a long time since she's had one of her tantrums."

Anya nodded. She continued eating her breakfast and the three of us started a conversation while keeping an eye on the remaining kids.

Meanwhile in the bathroom, Karen and Alex were talking while Alex waited for Karen to be done.

"What are you doing in there?" Alex asked. "You've been in there for a long time."

Karen had chosen one of the grown-up bathrooms with the sink and mirror inside of it.

"French braiding my hair." Karen replied.

"You can do that later." Alex told her. "I'm hungry. Mama can do it for you."

"I wanna do it myself." Karen said. "Besides, Anya knows we're together."

"So?" Alex challenged. "I really wanna get back to-"Her sentence was cut short when the bathroom door opened and two people stepped through it.

A woman with brown hair and blue eyes and a little girl who looked a little younger than Alex.

The little girl had brown eyes and thinn, but long blond hair.

She was crying something awful.

Alex frowned. She hated seeing anyone sad.

"Hi." She greeted with one of her famous smiles. "I'm Alex. I'm seven. What's your name?"

The little girl ignored Alex as she continued to sob.

The woman gave the other little girl an apologetic frown.

"It's nice to meet you, Alex." She said. "My name is Valerie. And this is my daughter, Zoe."

"Hi Zoe!" Alex tried again. "That's a really pretty name."

"I'm sorry." Valerie said. "She's just really upset right now."

"Can I help?" Alex asked.

Valerie smiled at her.

"I don't' think so." She said.

"Try me." Alex said undeterred.

Valerie nodded. She was really starting to like her. Before explaining, she asked a question of her own.

"Are you here alone, sweetheart?"

"No." Alex replied. "I'm here with my Mama and some friends. My friend, Karen, is in the bathroom taking a long time on her hair!" She said loudly towards the closed stall door.

"I'll be right there!" Karen shouted back.

Valerie chuckled good-naturedly.

"So why is Zoe sad?" Alex asked. She then noticed the Anastasia doll in Zoe's hand. She had the same doll at home. "I have the same doll!" She said. "Anastasia is one of my favorite movies."

Valerie smiled.

"Zoe's too." She said. "That's partly why she's so upset." Seeing the confused look on Alex's face, she explained further. "She really wanted to meet Anastasia. I guess she thought she would be here since she's a princess."

Alex's eyes lit up.

"She is here!" She said. "I can take you to meet her."

"She is?" Valerie asked.

Alex nodded.

"Yes." She said.

This got Zoe to smile a little.

"That would be wonderful." Valerie replied. "It would mean the world to Zoe."

Alex nodded.

Just then, Karen joined them.

"It's about time." Alex said with a glare. "My Mama could have ridden the train from Russia to Paris in the time it took you to do your hair."

Karen didn't' catch the sarcasm in Alex's tone.

"She could?"

Alex rolled her eyes.

"Come on." She said. "My Mama's probably worried about us."

"If you ask me," Karen said before she could stop herself, "she's too over protective."

"She is not!" Alex cried indignantly.

"Is too!" Karen insisted.

Alex shouted something at her in Russian that she was sure her mother would ground her for if she had heard her.

"I'm telling!" Karen proclaimed.

"Fine. " Alex said. "It's not like you understood what I said anyway."

"It doesn't matter." Karen shot back. "You shouldn't have yelled at me."

Alex walked purposely ahead of her as she led the way out the door and back to their table.

Upon seeing her mother, her annoyance at Karen dissolved almost instantly.

"Mama! Mama!" She said excitedly. "I need to talk to you. It's important."

"Okay. " Anya replied. She got up, took Alex's hand and found a quiet spot near a small area with benches. "What's up?" Anya asked.

Alex quickly explained what had happened in the bathroom, minus the fight she and Karen had had.

Once she was done, Anya grinned.

"Of course I'll help." She said. "Where is she?"

Alex smiled from ear to ear as she pointed over to where Valerie and Zoe were eating.

Well, Valerie was eating, but Zoe was just picking at her fruit salad.

"Come on, sweetie." Valerie coaxed. "You have to eat."

"I'm not hungry." Zoe said.

"Sweetheart, I know you're tired and the medicine makes your stomach hurt, but you have to eat. Even Anastasia ate breakfast."

Alex nudged her mother forward and stayed out of sight.

"Your Mom's right." Anya said as she made her presence known. "I do eat breakfast. In fact, you know what?"

Zoe couldn't speak as she gazed into the familiar blue eyes.

"Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day."

When Zoe finally regained her voice, she gasped.

"Anastasia!" She said excitedly. She then added, "You really like breakfast?"

Anya nodded.

"Uh-huh. Zoe, right?"

"Ha-how did you know my name?" She asked.

Anya grinned.

"My daughter, Alex told me." She replied.

"Alex is your little girl?" She asked.

"Yup." Anya replied.

"is she a princess like you?"

"Most of the time." Anya said with a wink.

Zoe giggled.

"She was nice to me." She said.

"Alex is very nice." Anya agreed. She gave Zoe a warm smile. "I hear you like my movie a lot."

Zoe nodded.

"Like it?" Valerie piped up. "She loves it! She watches it every day in the hospital."

Anya nodded. She frowned.

"The hospital?" She asked.

Zoe nodded. Her expression matched that of Anya's.

"I have cancer." She explained.

"I'm sorry." Anya said sincerely.

"This trip was sponsored by the Make a Wish foundation." She explained. "Zoe wanted to come here more than anything. She wanted to meet you most of all. She was really upset when we couldn't find you."

Anya frowned at the little girl in front of her.

"I'm here now." She said. "I'm sorry you couldn't find me before. I was spending time with Alex and then Pucca got away from me. Something tells me I don't have to tell you who Pucca is."

Zoe shook her head.

"He's your dog. " She said.

Anya nodded.

IN truth, she did have a dog named Pucca, but he was back at home in Stoneybrooke probably driving Sara crazy.

"That's right. " She said. "Hey, Zoe, do you like to sing?"

Zoe nodded.

"It's my favorite thing to do." She said.

"Would you like to sing a song with me?"

"Really?" She asked.

Anya nodded.

"Yup. What's your favorite song?"

"Once Upon a December." Zoe said without hesitation.

Anya smiled.

"I love that one too." She said. "let's sing it together."

Zoe nodded.

"Which version?" Anya asked.

"Yours." She said. "Please?"

"Now how can I say no after you used your manners?" With that, she started to sing and Zoe joined in.

The child's voice was like that of an angel and Anya found herself fighting back tears.

It wasn't' fair. Zoe didn't deserve to have cancer. Then again, no child deserved to have it.

When they finished the song, Valerie had tears in her eyes.

"Thank you." She whispered.

Anya nodded.

"Shall we sing one more?" Anya asked.

"Sure!" She said. She giggled as she asked, "Can we sing Learn to Do it? Please?"

Anya giggled as well.

"I know what you're thinking of." She said.

As they started the song, Zoe didn't miss one beat. She played Demetri and Vlad's parts really well.

When it came time for her favorite part of the song, she tried her best not to laugh until she was done.

"Now, elbows in and sit up straight and never slurp the stroganoff."

"I never cared for stroganoff." Anya said perfectly.

Zoe was laughing so hard, she couldn't say her next line.

That was fine with Anya. She was laughing too.

When it was time to say good-bye, Anya knelt down in front of Zoe and the child frowned.

"Do you really have to go? " She asked.

"I'm afraid so, little one." Anya said. "I need to get back to Alex and Pucca needs to be fed."

Zoe nodded.

"Can I give you a hug?" She asked.

Anya nodded and held out her arms without any hesitation.

"Of course you can." She said. "Come here, kiddo."

Zoe did so.

They stayed like that for a long time.

As they broke apart, Anya whispered something in her ear.

Zoe nodded.

After they pulled away, Anya stood up to leave.

Valerie's voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Thank you so much." She said. "You'll never know what this meant to Zoe."

"It's really my pleasure." Anya said truthfully.

"Do you mind if I take a picture with you and Zoe?" She asked.

"Not at all." Anya said.

Zoe willingly went to Anya's side.

As she wrapped a loving arm around her, a cast member who was almost in tears, approached them.

Fortunately, she was thinking clearly enough to bow to Anya.

Zoe smiled approvingly.

"You're Grace?" she started.

"Yes?" Anya asked. She had perfected this when she portrayed her name sake for Alex when they were playing and when she had been taken back in time and mistakened for the real Anastasia.

"If You're Majesty doesn't object, may I have a few minutes of your time?"

Anya nodded.

"Certainly." She replied. "I'll be right back, Zoe." She said.

"You're not leaving yet, are you?" Zoe asked.

"Soon, but we don't have to say good-bye just yet." She told her.

Zoe nodded. She went back to her mother while Anya followed the cast member.

Once they were out of earshot, Anya dropped all pretenses.

"What's up?" She asked.

"First of all, I think it was very admirable what you did for that little girl. I've seen you around here with your own daughter, so I know you're who you say you are."

Feeling she had to put her two rubles in, Anya cut in just then.

"I was named after her." She told her.

The Cat member nodded.

"My real name is Anastasia, but most people call me Anya."

"Be that as it may, due to company policy, you can't sign anything as Anastasia."

"But that's my real name!" Anya blurted out. She felt as though she was back in Russia and Demetri was trying one of his cons.

"However, if I don't see it, as far as I'm concerned it never happened."

"Thank you." She said. "You don't know what this means to that little girl."

The cast member shook her head.

"I think I do." She said. "Princess, as far as I'm concerned, you have a little bit more magic to make." With that, she walked away to help some of the other princesses hand out toys.

Anya went back to Zoe and Valerie and knelt down in front of the little girl once again.

"Preveit." She greeted. "I'm back."

Zoe jumped up and ran to her.

"What does Privet mean?" She asked.

Anya giggled softly at her mispronunciation.

"Preveit." She said. "It means hello in Russian. Do you know how to say good-bye?"

Zoe nodded.

"Dosvedanya." She said.

"That's right! Good girl! But you know what?"

"What?"

"Dosvedanya really doesn't mean good-bye." Anya told her.

"It doesn't?"

"Nope. It means until we meet again."

"So I'll see you again?" Zoe asked.

"Maybe." Anya said with a grin. She gave Zoe one more hug before standing up and draping her arm around her for a picture.

After the picture was taken, Valerie took Anya aside.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked.

"Sure." Anya said. With that, she followed the young woman to a corner off to the side.

They could still keep an eye on Zoe, but she wouldn't overhear them.

"I can't thank you enough." She began.

"It's really my pleasure." Anya reassured her.

"It's our last weekend here." She explained. "We're heading home on Sunday."

"Okay." Anya replied.

"I was wondering if you would like to join us for dinner tomorrow night? Alex is welcomed to come along too if you don't wanna leave her behind."

Anya nodded. She made a mental note to ask Alex if she wanted to come that night.

"I would love to." She said.

Valerie smiled.

"I won't tell Zoe." She said. "I want it to be a surprise."

"Good idea." Anya agreed. "Well, I better get back to Alex and my friends. They're probably wondering where I've been."

"Of course." Valerie replied.

The exchanged information and agreed that Anya would meet them in their room for dinner.

After they were done talking, they returned to Zoe.

She was still smiling a mile a minute.

"All right, sweetheart," Anya said. "I need to go now. Dosvedanya."

"Dosvedanya." Zoe said. She gave Anya another hug and the teenager hugged back fiercely.

As she was walking back to her table to meet up with Alex and the others, she was getting an idea.

As she neared the table, the cast member from earlier approached her again.

"To what do I owe this second meeting?" Anya asked.

The cast member who later introduced herself as Danielle, gave Anya a smile, followed by a hug.

She was taken aback at first, but then hugged back slightly.

"What was that for? " Anya asked.

Danielle smiled.

"Our job is to make magic in children's lives. The amount of magic you made is indescribable."

Anya nodded. Without knowing why, she told Danielle about her and Valerie's plans for tomorrow.

By the time Anya reached the table and was sitting down again, we all assaulted her with questions.

Alex was the only one who stayed quiet. She greeted her mother with a hug and her mother hugged back.

"What was she like?" Alex asked after everyone had asked her what they wanted to know.

Anya grinned from ear to ear and started to explain.

As she finished up her story, she noticed Karen shooting Alex a glare and Alex ignoring her.

"Okay, what's up with you two?" She asked.

Alex answered at exactly the same time Karen did.

"She started it!"

Anya rolled her eyes, then lifted them to Heaven above, asking God for patience.

"Don't' worry." I said. "They'll be friends again soon enough."

Later that night, Anya tucked Alex into bed, sung her "Once Upon a December" and stayed with her until she fell asleep.

Once the seven-year-old was out, Anya got out of bed and went outside to the balcony.

Sitting down in one of the chairs, she sighed.

"Please watch over Zoe." She said softly. "I know you didn't' do this to Zoe, but please, watch over her. I know you had me cross paths with that little girl for a reason. Please watch over her." With that, Anya let the tears she had been holding back since early that afternoon burst forth.

If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that she was going to help Zoe in any way she could. Even if that meant sticking with her until the end…


	16. Chapter 16

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy! 

A/N: I know a lot of the things that are in this chapter aren't really in WDW. But I just wanted to have fun with the story!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 16

Anya didn't know how long she was sitting there. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

The dream that followed felt more like a warning than an actual dream.

She woke up gasping for air a few hours later, tears streaming down her face.

She wasn't even aware she wasn't a lone anymore.

The first indication that someone had joined her was when she heard a familiar voice beside her.

"Mama, why are you crying?" Alex asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Anya replied as she pulled her close. "I just had a nightmare."

"Was it about Rasputin?" She asked.

"NO." She replied. "Thankfully not."

Though silently, she wished it was. Those nightmares she knew weren't real. The one she just experienced was.

She had a feeling the promise she had made to be with Zoe until the very end was about to be put to the ultimate test.

"Did you sleep okay?" She asked as she ruffled her daughter's hair.

UH-huh." Alex replied as she snuggled in for a cuddle. "Karen snores though"

"I do not!" Came an indignant voice from inside the hotel.

Alex ignored her.

"Hey, what's going on with you guys anyway?" Anya asked as she wiped away a few stray tears.

Alex shrugged.

She answered her mother in Russian, so Karen wouldn't understand.

"Alex!" Anya admonished.

"What? She is." Alex insisted.

"Oh my cherina," Anya said with a sigh. "I know she can be a little…" Her voice trailed off as she tried to think of the best word in Russian that wouldn't backfire on her. She finally found it and finished her thought. "…but she does like you."

"I know." Alex said. "I like her too." Without warning, she said, "Mama, I miss Aunt Sara. Can we call her tonight?"

"Sure." Anya replied. "She's probably worried sick about me."

"She knows you can take care of yourself and me."

"I know." Anya said. She ruffled Alex's hair before starting to tickle her.

Once the giggles had subsided, Anya pulled her close once again and held her for a few minutes.

"You know I Love you, right?" She asked.

"Yeah. " Alex replied. "I love you too."

Anya nodded. She was grateful for once that Alex was too innocent to understand what was really going on.

It was true that her daughter was wise beyond her years, but she didn't really want to have to explain what was going on with Zoe just yet.

Mother and daughter stayed like that for a few more minutes before I called that breakfast was getting cold.

Anya let Alex go and the two went to get ready for the day.

"Mama, I think you should wear your hair like Anya did in the movie."

"You know what?" Anya said. "I think I will."

Once she was ready, she followed Alex down to the elevator.

Halfway, Alex insisted she had to go back to get her purse full of money she had saved for the trip.

Anya went with her to make sure she was okay. She secretly had a suspicion that Alex just wanted to avoid Karen in the elevator.

Anya prayed that Alex and Karen would make up soon. She knew kids had normal disagreements, but she also knew Alex was a sweet kid most of the time. She didn't stay mad for long and she hated seeing anyone she cared about upset.

Anya had a feeling the girls would make up soon. The only question was how long would it take?

Before Anya knew it, it was nearly dinnertime. She got ready and left a note, telling us where she was.

She also took her cell phone with her just in case of an emergency.

Around seven-thirty, she stood outside the Burkes' hotel room, trying to calm her nerves.

She wasn't' nervous about spending time with Zoe. She was nervous about her nightmare coming true.

After saying a silent prayer, Anya knocked on the door.

Valerie opened it a minute later. She grinned broadly when she saw her standing there.

"Come in." She said. "I told Zoe we were having a special guest for dinner tonight, but I didn't tell her who."

Anya nodded.

She walked into the hotel suite and was surprised by what she found.

It was decorated and looked very bright and cheerful.

It actually looked like any other hotel she had been in. She didn't know why she thought it would be any different.

Anya was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a very excited Zoe address her from behind.

"Anastasia! Anastasia!" She squealed excitedly.

Anya whirled around in time to see Zoe running to wards her.

She gave the little girl a hug and greeted her warmly.

"Where's Alex?" She asked.

"She's back with my friends." Anya told her.

Zoe nodded.

"Do you like pizza? " She asked.

Anya grinned.

"I love it. " She said.

Zoe's face lit up.

"Awesome!" She said. "Do you want to play a game? Mommy bought me Candy Land."

"You're on!" Anya said.

Zoe led Anya into the living room where the game was set up.

Anya sat down across from Zoe and the two started to play.

As the game continued, Anya noticed the little girl was becoming distracted.

She decided not to say anything. She had learned from experience with Alex that if she said anything about her being tired, her daughter would deny it.

Halfway through the game, Zoe put her piece down and got out of her chair. She rounded the table to where Anya was sitting and made herself comfortable on her lap.

Anya's heart melted as she fought back tears.

"Hey kiddo." She said. "Are you getting tired of the game?"

Zoe nodded.

"A little." She said. "Can we do something else instead?"

"Sure. What do you want to do?"  
"Can you tell me a story?"

"Sure. Which one do you want to hear?"

"Yours. Please?"

Anya nodded. She put her hand through Zoe's quickly thinning brown hair and kissed her cheek.

As she started the story, she glanced down to see that Zoe was fast asleep.

She knew she was still alive because she could hear her breathing. But a part of Anya knew she wouldn't be for long.

She almost tucked her in, but thought against it and remained where she was.

"Zoe was tired." Valerie commented as she came into the room. "She didn't' take a nap today because she was excited about you coming. I mean I didn't tell her you were coming, but she knew something wonderful was going to happen today."

Anya nodded. She felt Zoe stir in her arms and did what she always did for Alex when her daughter would move in her sleep. She started humming "Once Upon a December."

The technique worked for Zoe as well.

By the time room service arrived with the food, Zoe was slowly waking up.

"Hey sweetie." Anya greeted. "Are you ready to eat some pizza? I think it's here."

"Anastasia, I don't feel good!" Zoe whimpered.

Anya's heart raced. She thought of calling for Valerie, but she remembered she was still talking to whoever had brought the food.

As she heard the door close, she was about to call for Valerie when Zoe threw up all over her.

Anya didn't let it bother her and tried to stay calm as Zoe apologized to her over and over again.

She assured her she wasn't mad and made a mad dash for the bathroom.

As she was trying to get Zoe to drink some water, she glanced in the mirror and saw something that made her blood run cold.

There were red splatters on her shirt. This could only mean one thing.

They had to get Zoe to the hospital and fast.

"I'm sorry about that." Valerie said as she poked her head in the bathroom, "Danielle's a friend of mine. We went to…" Her voice trailed off when she saw the state her daughter was in.

She rushed to her side and tried to take her from Anya, but Zoe wouldn't let go.

After Anya explained that she had to change her shirt and she would be back, she put Zoe in her mother's arms.

She threw on a shirt that she found in the dresser and rushed back to Valerie and the little girl.

"What happened?" She demanded.

Anya explained quickly and agreed to go to the hospital with them.

Valerie called 911.

Before Anya knew it, she was riding in an ambulance while Zoe squeezed her hand.

She sung her "Once Upon a December" all the way to the hospital and a few more times during the exanimation.

The doctors allowed her to stay since this was a special case.

"You don't have to stay. " Valerie said as she took the cup of coffee Anya was offering her. "I know you have a daughter to take care of."

"I don't mind staying. " Anya said sincerely. "Alex is fine. She's with a friend of mine."

After the nurses and doctors were done examining the little girl, they told Valerie that all they could do now was make sure Zoe was as comfortable as possible.

The young woman understood. At the same time, the thought of losing her little girl broke her heart.

Zoe slept fitfully for the next few hours.

Anya stayed by her side the entire time. She sung "Once Upon a December" more times then she could count, but she didn't' mind.

Somewhere around two in the morning, Zoe awoke and squeezed Anya's hand tightly.

Anya had a feeling she didn't have much time left.

"It's okay." Anya soothed. "I'm right here. I didn't go anywhere."

Zoe nodded.

"Anastasia, I'm scared!" She whimpered.

"I know." Anya said softly. "I know. But you don't have to be. I'm right here and so is your Mom."

"That's right." Valerie said. She kissed her daughter's forehead and brushed a few strands of hair out of her face.

"Will you sing again?" She asked Anya.

"Sure." She replied. She sung "Journey to the Past" before switching back to "Once Upon a December."

As the chorus of the song came around, Anya had a sudden realization.

Sitting on the bed, she carefully picked Zoe up and held her close.

As she held the frail child in her arms, the chorus of the song began to have a deeper meaning for her.

As she finished singing it, she realized the little girl was gone.

Anya held her for a few minutes before setting her down. She landed a soft kiss to her cheek and whispered a final good-bye as she left to give Valerie some time alone with her.

"Dosvedanya." She whispered. With that, she was about to leave the room when the young woman spoke.

"Thank you. " She managed to choke out.

Anya nodded. She was trying hard to fight back tears and was losing the battle fairly quickly.

"Even though I'm going to miss her, I think this was a perfect ending for her. Both of her dreams came true. I couldn't have done it without you."

Anya nodded as she tried to fight back more tears. She understood exactly what Valerie was saying.

When Anya returned to the hotel, she didn't' have the heart to go inside just yet.

She sat down upon a bench and let the tears fall. She had only known Zoe for a little over two days. And in that amount of time, she had made an imprint on her heart that would never go away.

Just then, she felt someone sit down beside her.

She glanced up to see Danielle's concerned brown eyes gazing back at her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Well, I saw that you were crying and I wanted to see if you were okay." She replied.

Anya shook her head.

Her reply came out sarcastic.

"Yeah. I'm great." She said.

"You don't look fine." She countered.

Anya sighed.

"Zoe died tonight." She said.

"I'm sorry." Danielle said. "It's really sad." She reached out her arms and Anya allowed her to hug her.

After they pulled away, Anya wiped at her eyes and Danielle regarded her with concern.

"It's not fair!" Anya blurted out. "I mean I know she was in pain, but she was just…she was just a little girl! She didn't deserve to have her life cut short."

"Well, you're right. " Danielle agreed. "I completely agree. But as sad as it is, she couldn't have had a happier ending. Her dream was to come here and meet Anastasia. In her eyes it was a perfect ending. It doesn't minimize how sad her death is, but she had a perfect ending."

Anya nodded.

"But it still doesn't' make it any easier." She said.

"No." Danielle said. "Of course it doesn't. But just take solace in the fact that you made a difference in her life. You were there for her and stayed with her until the end. Not many people would do that. You showed more loyalty and royal determination than any other princess who's worked here. If you ever need to talk, here's my cell phone number."

"Thanks." Anya replied. She took it and pocketed it. She stood up from the bench and started making her way back to the hotel.

Before leaving, she turned around.

"Dosvedanya." She replied. With that, she was gone.

Arriving back at the hotel, Anya was grateful that their room was empty for a few minutes. She knew it wouldn't last long.

Even though she wanted nothing more than to be alone, she also wanted-no she needed-to know her daughter was okay. More than that, she needed her there with her now.

Just then, Karen and Alex's excited voices could be heard floating down the hallway.

Karen's was slightly louder than Alex's.

"I can't believe you rode Tower of terror twice!" Alex said as they approached the door.

Karen grinned.

"A bet's a bet." She said. "David Michael had it coming to him. He owes me two Mickey bars now."

They entered the room a few minutes later. Karen went right for her fun bag while Alex spotted her mother and ran to her.

"Preveit. " She said. She then got a good look at her. "Mama, what happened?" She asked. She looked deep into her mother's blue tear stained eyes as realization hit her. "Zoe went to Heaven, didn't' she?"

Anya nodded as she pulled Alex into her arms.

"Whose Zoe? " Karen asked curiously.

Anya ignored her for the moment.

"I'm sorry you're sad. " Alex said. "But Zoe's happy now. She doesn't hurt anymore. And you helped her. We'll see her again."

Anya managed a small smile through her tears as she kissed Alex's forehead.

"You're right." Anya said lovingly. "You are so right."

Feeling ignored, Karen stamped her foot on the ground.

"Who's Zoe!" She demanded.

Anya counted to ten in Russian silently in an effort not to lose her patience.

"Karen, please." She said. "Not now, okay?"

Karen glared at her.

"Just tell me!" She said.

"That's it. " Anya said sternly.

Alex actually backed up a little at her mother's change of tone.

Karen however wasn't phased in the least.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"Where's everyone else?"

Karen crossed her arms over her chest.

"Why should I tell you? You didn't' answer my question. Why should I answer yours?"

Alex stepped forward.

"Mama's watching us." She said. "You have to listen to her."

"No I don't. " Karen said stubbornly.

"Come on." Anya ordered. "We're going to find your sister."

Karen followed her and Alex out of the room.

They found me and Claud, along with Mal, Margo, Claire and Emily in the hotel's game room.

I was helping Emily whack Donald, while Margo and Claire played Mickey's ski ball.

Mal stood close by to make sure Margo didn't' cheat.

As Margo won some more tickets, Claire ran up to her big sister.

Can I play Goofy golf?" She asked. "Please, Mallory silly-billy goo-goo?" She asked.

Mal nodded.

"Sure." She said. "Come on." She took Claire's hand and asked Claud to watch Margo.

"Sure thing." Claud said as she bit into her fifth Mickey bar. "No problem."

Mal rolled her eyes.

It was then that Anya arrived with her two charges in toe.

She walked purposely over to me and nudged Karen forward.

"What did you do?" I asked.

Karen avoided her my stare.

"Nothing." She replied.

"Karen Brewer…" I said warningly.

"I got Anastasia mad." She said.

"How?" I asked.

Karen shrugged.

"I don't know."

Alex piped up.

"She wasn't listening."

"It figures." I said.

"Do you mind watching her?" Anya asked. "Alex and I need to go somewhere for a little bit."

"No." I said. "Just be careful and don't be too late."

Anya nodded. She took Alex by the hand and led her out of the game room.

The minute they were gone, I rounded on my sister.


	17. Chapter 17

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy! 

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 17

Meanwhile, Claud was over with the Perkins girls, watching Mariah try to win something for Gabbers. The two sisters were really close.

As for Sari, she was playing a game of goofy golf with Claire.

As Mariah put her quarter in, she crossed her fingers as she watched the hand descend into the machine.

She had her eye on a plush Rajah for her sister. She had already won a plush Abu for herself.

As both girls watched, their eyes lit up as the machine started blinking rapidly and genie's voice was heard.

"We have a winner!" He said.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" The girls cheered.

Gabbi looked at Claud with a grin.

"See, Claudia Kishi?"  
She asked. "My sister's good!"

"She sure is. " Claud agreed.

Genie interrupted them.

"Now, grab that prize!" He instructed.

Mariah did just that.

As she pulled out the plush Rajah, she got a second surprise.

Someone else was attached to his tail.

Mariah handed Rajah to her sister and held Jiminy Cricket close to her.

She had always liked Jiminy ever since she first saw "Pinocchio."

"All right you guys," Claud said. "Why don't we go over and play some ski ball."

Both girls agreed.

"Wanna play some more, Claudia Kishi." Gabbi said.

"You do huh, Gabbers?" Claud asked.

"Yes, please!" Gabbi said.

Just then, Genie's voice could be heard again.

"Wanna play again?"

"How does Genie know I wanna play again?" Gabbie asked.

Mariah shrugged.

"He's magical." She replied. "He knows everything."

"Bye-bye, thanks for playing." Genie said.

Gabbie waved to him.

"Adios." She said as she followed her sister and Claudia over to the ski ball game.

A little ways away, they heard Claire throwing another tantrum.

"Goofy's stupid!" She declared. "This game is rigged."

"Do you even know what that means?" Mal asked.

Claire nodded.

"Goofy cheated! I want my money back."

"Goofy didn't' cheat." Mal said. "He's just not strong enough to hit the ball in the hole."

"Or smart enough." Margo muttered.

Just then, Emily's shrieks of laughter could be heard to their left.

"Kristy, I did it!" She said.

"You sure did." I said. "Let's go collect your prize."

"I get prize?" Emily asked.

"Yup." I replied. With that, I led her over to the counter. "What would you like?"

Emily scanned the shelves before her eyes landed on something I couldn't see at first.

"Dumbo!" She said. "I want Dumbo, please?"

"Sure." I said. I indicated one of the large plush near the front of the display.

As Emily watched the cast member take him down, she shook her head.

"No." She said.

I looked confused.

"I thought you wanted Dumbo, Em?" I asked.

Emily nodded. She pointed to a small one that was all alone.

"I want him!" She said.

"But wouldn't you rather have a bigger one?" I asked.

Emily shook her head.

"No." She replied.

"Why not?" I asked. I was aware due to Emily's slight problem with English, I wouldn't' get a straight forward answer.

But she surprised me this time.

"He's alone." She said. "He needs a friend."

I smiled. My sister was something else all right.

Once she had Dumbo safely tucked under one arm, I guided her back to the others.

The next day, we headed for Fantasyland. The kids wanted to ride It's a Small world.

Claudia had issues with the ride, so I ended up going, along with Mal.

We ended up taking Karen, Margo, David Michael and Emily Michelle. I asked Alex if she wanted to go, but she said she wanted to hang out with her mother.

As we boarded the boats, David Michael started ramming a pair of swords on the side of one of them.

"Be careful." I warned. "Remember what happened to Pluto."

David Michael glared at me.

"What are you doing with those swords anyway?" Karen asked.

Our brother gave her a look as though it were obvious.

"I'm going to catch Tick tock." He answered.

Karen giggled.

"There aren't any clocks in the river." She said.

"The crocodile, stupid." David Michael retorted.

I let the two kids work it out. I knew Karen could hold her own.

As we started moving, the song started playing.

I heard Karen start to sing along and I tried to get Emily to do the same.

I was really hoping the ride would end quickly. After all, it was a kids' ride. How long could it really last?

By the time the ride was over, I had come to a realization of my own.

It was a small world, but the time in which it lasted was anything but small.

"Can we go again?" Emily asked.

"Tomorrow." I replied. "We'll get Anya to take you."

"Ana go on ride now?" Emily asked.

"Yes." I replied.

"I'm not going then. " Karen declared.

I let it go. I figured they would work it out eventually.

We ended up eating dinner at the Starlight café.

Anya and Alex ended up joining us and my sister shot Anya glares all through dinner.

Anya shook her head and mouthed to me that she would take care of it.

I nodded as I helped Emily put ketch up on her nuggets.

Karen and Hannie were deep in conversation on one end of the table, while Charlotte and Alex were discussing something a few chairs down.

As for the Perkins girls, Mariah was in a heated discussion with my brother about why Jesse and Woody should be together instead of Buzz and Jesse, while Gabbie happily colored on her menu.

Alex was eating a turkey burger and tatter tots while Charlotte had a chicken wrap.

As dinner was winding down, Mal tried to convince Claire that waving her magic wand around while people were walking by wasn't a good idea.

When Claire argued she was looking for a frog to turn into a prince, Mal convinced her to wait until we left the café.

As we reached main street, we saw Mickey, Donald and Goofy.

Sari grinned and practically pulled Claud over to where they were.

She broke free of Claud's grasp and ran for Donald. She threw her arms around his waist and hugged tight.

Donald hugged back before letting go.

Sari pointed to his head.

"Does it feel better?" She asked.

Donald pointed at his head and then hers.

Sari frowned.

"Magic show." She said.

Donald nodded.

Sari smiled.

"Good." She said.

Just then, Emily spotted Goofy.

She frowned and pointed at him.

"Bad doggie!" She exclaimed.

"Emily." I said. "That wasn't nice."

"Goofy bad!" Emily insisted. "Talk too much."

I giggled.

"He's different." I explained.

"How?" Emily asked.

"Well, he doesn't talk as much as the other Goofy." I explained.

"Good." Emily said.

I shook my head and bounced Emily on my hip.

Just then, Claudia glanced over at a few statues that were a little ways away.

I recognized the look in her eyes.

"Those would be perfect to sketch!" She shouted. "I gotta get a closer look!" With that, she took off with Sari in her arms.

When they got there, Sari squealed with delight.

"Goofy!" She cried. "You're my best friend."

Claudia frowned. She knew this could be trouble.

"Goofy?" Sari asked.

There was no answer.

Soon, she started to cry.

"Come on, Sar Bear." Claudia said. "It's okay. Let's leave these silly statues and go do something fun! Do you wanna visit Goofy's Candy Kitchen with me?"

"No!" Sari cried. "Wanna talk to Goofy!"

Just then, someone pointed at Claud and motioned for her to follow, but keep her distance.

Claud did so, hoping it would help Sari feel better.

As they approached the statue, Claudia hugged Sari to her, hoping to bring her some comfort.

Since Sari's face was buried in Claud's shirt, she wasn't facing the statue.

Just then, a familiar voice met Sari's ears.

"Howdy! I'm Goofy. What's your name?"

Sari started to perk up a little when she heard him.

"Tell Goofy your name." Claud prompted. "You can say your name."

Sari nodded.

"Sari." She said.

"Nice to meet you." Goofy said.

Sari reached her hand out to shake Goofy's hand.

"Goofy has his hands full." Claudia said.

"Yeah." Goofy replied. "I'm carrying the cake. You can't see it because it's invisible." He replied.

"I didn't mean to make you cry. I was sleeping. I had a long day. I'll bet you're tired too."

"A little." Sari said. "You're my best friend." She told him.

"Gorsh. You're my best friend too." He said.

Sari's face lit up.

Claud was about to suggest they go back, when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.

This time, it was from the Mickey statue.

Claud moved over and made sure she shielded Sari from view.

"Hiya, Sari!" Mickey said.

Sari giggled.

"Hi." She said.

"Are you having a good time?" He asked.

"Yeah!" Sari replied.

"That's good. I got the park ready for you and your friends. I'm glad you're having fun."

Before they left, Claudia flagged the person down.

"Thanks. " She said.

"For what?" He said. "I don't' know what you're talking about. I'm jealous of the little girl. She got to talk to Mickey and Goofy. I never got to do that."

Claud nodded. She smiled and stuck out her hand. "I'm Claudia." She said.

The guy smiled at her.

"I'm Jon." He said. "It's nice to meet you."

Just then, Mal came upon them.

"I'll take Sari for a little bit." She offered. "Mrs. Papadakis wants her in bed anyway."

Claud nodded. She threw Mal a grateful look as she handed Sari over.

"That was really nice what you did for Sari. " Claud said. "I guess we have some time alone now. Wanna grab a bite?"

"Sure. By the way, what resort are you guys staying in?" He asked.

Claud thought for a minute. She gave him the name of it and the two grabbed an ice cream to chat.

A cast member passed by and asked what was going on.

Claud quickly explained and the cast member nodded. He moved on and they were alone once again.

After sharing a treat, Claudia left for the hotel.

The next morning, the Papadakis were woken up by the phone ringing.

Thinking it was their morning wake up call, Mrs. Papadakis went to answer it. But sari got there first.

"Hi." Sari said.

Mrs. Papadakis quickly took the phone from her daughter and put it on speaker.

"Howdy!" Goofy's voice said. "It's seven-thirty. I hope you're up and Adam."

Sari giggled.

"Goofy!" She exclaimed. "You're up early."

"Yeah. I'm up early getting everything prepared just for you and your pals."

"Thank you!" Sari said.

Just then, Emily ran into the room. It was a good thing Mrs. Papadakis and Hannie were the only ones there. The reason was, she was half naked.

"Emily, what are you doing?" Mrs. Papadakis asked.

"Kristy getting my bathing suit." She said.

"I was." I said as I came into the room. "Come here." With that, I picked her up.

Goofy talked a little more with Sari before saying he had to go.

When Sari asked him where he was going, he said, "I'm goin' on a picnic with Mickey."

"Why didn't' you talk to me when I said hi." Sari asked.

"Well sometimes I'm so Goofy, I forget how to move my mouth."

Sari giggled.

"I love you." She said.

"Gorsh. You're a real sweetheart."

With that, the phone call ended.

Sari was in high spirits the whole morning.

We decided to spend the day at Epcot.

When we reached Epcot, David Michael wanted to go on Mission Space.

I went with him, leaving Anya, Claud and Mal in charge of the others.

Surprisingly, I had a good time too.

Once we had gotten in line, I heard Alex tell Anya she was bored.

I had to give Anya credit, she didn't lose her patience with Alex too often. Come to think of it, she hadn't lost her temper with any of the kids, except for Karen that one time. And I couldn't blame her.

Anya spotted an arcade a little ways down the walk. She suggested to the others that they hang out there until we were done.

When Anya and the kids arrived at Advance Training Center, Karen uttered the three words Anya was ready for.

"Anastasia, we're bored!"

"We, huh?" She asked, winking at Alex.

Alex nodded.

"Well my cherina," she said, turning to her daughter, "what do you want me to do about it?"

Alex shrugged.

"Maybe this will help." Anya said. With that, she produced a box covered with stickers of butterflies and pictures from the "Anastasia" movie on them.

"Your kid kit!" Alex and Karen said in unison.

Anya laughed softly.

"Wonders will never cease." She said. "I have to remember to tell Kristy thanks for politely suggesting I bring it along."

Karen rolled her eyes. She knew exactly what Anya was talking about.

Alex looked at her mother wide eyed.

"She ordered you to do it?" The eight-year-old asked.

"Somewhat." Anya said.

"And you actually listened to her?" Karen said, surprised.

"Well, I'm slowly learning that when Kristy talks, people listen."

Karen and Alex giggled.

Just then, Claudia came over to them. She had a giggling Sari in her arms.

"Someone likes the ball pit too much." Claud informed them. "If it pleases You're Grace," she said, turning to Anya. "Would you mind watching her for a few minutes? I'm going to go after a Mickey bar."

"Sure!" Anya said. "Come here, Sar bear." She pulled the three-year-old onto her lap and started to tickle her.

"Ana, play!" Sari said through her giggles.

"I sure will." Anya said. "What do you wanna play?"

"The princess game!" Sari replied.

Anya frowned.

"We don't have the music for it, sweetie."

Sari shook her head.

"The princess game!" She insisted.

Anya sighed.

"Okay." She said. "We'll just have to do it without the music."

"No we won't!" Karen said.

"What do you mean?" Anya asked. "I know you brought your Anastasia CD with you, but we don't have a CD player."

"Oh, pardon me, You're Majesty," Karen said with a mock bow. "But I think you're wrong."

Anya smirked.

"I am, huh?" She asked.

"Uh-huh." With that, Karen reached in her fun bag and pulled out a CD player. IT was blue and had a picture of Ariel on it.

"Where did you get that?" Anya asked.

"Daddy bought it for me. " Karen replied.

Anya nodded.

"Okay." She said. "Let's do this you two."

The three girls were soon awash in giggles as Anya tried to teach Sari the Romanoff way.

After the three were busy coloring in a coloring book and scribble pad Anya had put in her kid kit, Claud returned. She not only had a Mickey bar in her hand, but she also bought a lollipop shaped like Goofy and something called "Oliver and Company Crunch."

"Did I miss anything? " Claud asked as she stuffed some crunch in her mouth.

Anya shook her head.

"Not much." She said.

Just then, sari reached for the lollipop.

"Goofy!" She said.

"You're right." Claudia told her. "You can have it, but you need to be really careful."

Sari nodded. She waited for Claud to open it for her and promptly stuck it in her mouth.

"Yum!" She declared.

"I'm glad you like it." Claud said with a smile.

"Talk to Goofy again, Claudia?" Sari asked as she finished up her treat.

"I don't know." Claudia said. "Maybe."

"What are you talking about?" Anya asked. "When did she talk to Goofy?"

Claudia leaned over close to Anya's left ear and started telling her what happened.

Anya listened intently. She hung on Claud's every word and found herself blushing by the end.

"So did you get his name?" Anya asked once she was done.

Claudia nodded. She told Anya and the slightly older girl nodded.

"Would you mind watching the girls?" She asked. "I wanna take a little walk."

Claudia agreed without any hesitation. She knew Anya was still trying to heal from Zoe's death, so she figured she just needed some time.

"Mama, where are you going?" Alex asked as she gazed up from her picture.

"I'm just going for a walk." Anya replied. "I'll be back. Be good for Claud. I love you. " With that, she kissed her cheek and ruffled her hair.

"Hey!" Karen said indignantly. "What about me?"

"I love you too." She said. She patted her shoulder and then left.

Heading out of the center, Anya took a left and walked down a path lined with little shops.

She had been walking for a while when she started to get hungry.

Ducking into a sweet shop, she bought a piece of pound cake and a small iced tea.

Sitting down to relax and enjoy a little time alone, she started to eat her snack.

Once she was done, she threw away her trash and picked a treat up for Alex.

She was just about to leave, when she heard a familiar voice off in the distance.

Smiling to herself, she followed it, not caring that it lead into a forbidden area for tourists.

'Gotcha.' She thought triumphantly to herself.

"Howdy, Sari! I hope you're having a fun time in the park! We and Mickey were talking' about how fun it was to meet you. We hope we see you again real soon. Bye now!"

"So here you are." Anya said with a grin.

"Can I Help you, young lady?" He asked.

Anya nodded.

"You can call me Anastasia." She replied.

"It's nice to meet you, Anastasia." He said. He then added, "That's a really pretty name."

"Thanks. " She said.

"I don't mean to be rude," he said, "but this area's not for guests. However, if you wanna talk, I'm on break. Why don't we sit outside?"

"Okay." Anya said. With that ,she followed him out of the sweet shop and over to a bench.

"Were you looking for me? " He asked.

Anya smiled at him coyly.

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"How come?" He asked.

"What can I say? I'm a cuprous sort. All joking aside though, we have a mutual friend in common."

"Uh-oh." He said.

"Calm down, tiger." She said. "Claud doesn't bite. Unless you were a Mickey bar."

"Is she the one with the cute little girl who wanted to talk to Goofy?"

"Yeah." Anya replied. "Her name is Sari."

"As far as you know, that never happened."

"NO worries. " Anya said. 'I know how to keep a secret. Believe me."

"You seem really nice." He said.

"That's what most people say who know me really well. My daughter would tell you the same thing."

"How long are you here for?" He asked.

"A week." Anya replied. "We're going back home next Friday."

"Maybe I'll see you again sometime." He said.

"Not if I see you first. " Anya said.

"If you're looking for me, I have a date with someone blue and magical."

"Stitch?" She asked.

"I'd love to tell you, but I can't tell you everything. But I can be found at world's showcase and I'm allowed to talk."

"Good enough. " Anya said. She glanced down at her watch and realized it was getting late. "I'm glad we got a chance to talk." She said. 'But I need to get back to the others now. Dosvedanya."

"If you're gonna be here for a while, I'll give you one more hint."

"Give away." Anya said.

"There's nothing in the world quite like a friend."

"I agree." Anya said with a smile. With that, she was gone.


	18. Chapter 18

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy! 

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 18

Anya returned to the center a little while later and Claud quickly pumped her for information.

"So?" She said expectantly.

"So what?" Anya asked as Alex tugged on her arm.

Thinking she wanted some attention, she picked her up and set her on her lap, only to have her daughter jump off again.

"What was he like?" Claud asked.

"Who?" Anya inquired. She ruffled Alex's hair as her daughter sat down in a chair next to her. "And as for you, my cherina," she said, "what's up?"

Alex shrugged.

"I'm bored." She said.

"Why don't we take a walk." Anya suggested. "In fact, why don't' we all go somewhere else." She turned to Karen. "What Disney movie has the song "There's Nothing in the World Quite like a Friend?"

Karen didn't hesitate.

"The Return of Jafar." She answered.

"Thanks." Anya said. She pulled out a map and searched it until she came to the Aladdin characters. She found Genie and put the map down so everyone could have a look.

"Can we go there? " Karen asked. "Please, Anastasia? Please, please?"

"You read my mind. " She said. "Let's get the others and head over."

Alex and Karen smiled at one another, friends again for the time being.

Once we were all together, we headed over to the Morocco pavilion in World Show Case.

The kids talked excitedly along the way as did us baby-sitters.

Charlotte and Alex got into a conversation about Ariel and Karen joined in shortly afterwards.

Emily grew tired of walking halfway to our destination, so I picked her up and carried her the rest of the way.

Sari had the same idea and Claud carried her as well.

Claire tried to get Mal to, but her sister wouldn't budge. She wasn't tired, she just wanted to be carried because the younger kids were.

As we walked along the route, we spotted many things that the kids wanted to stop and see.

Mariah wanted to stop and watch a band perform, while Gabbi started dancing along to the music.

This got us smiling and laughing a little.

Gabbi was a good dancer for only being three.

Alex started showing Karen and Charlotte a Russian dance that Anya had taught her. The girls were soon awash in giggles from all the mistakes the other two were making.

Once we had gotten back on our way, Karen started everyone singing a traveling song that quickly turned into something very silly.

As we approached Morocco, Sari told Claudia that she was hungry.

Some of the older kids voiced the same thing, so we tried to find something for them to eat.

Karen's eyes lit up upon seeing a sign for a restaurant for Spanish food.

I quickly diverted her attention to a vender selling the same thing.

After the kids had their treats and a drink of juice in Alex's case, we continued on our way to meet Genie.

As we neared the place where he was, Karen tugged on my arm.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Kristy, I need to go to the bathroom." She said.

"Okay." I replied. "You can't be long though. And take someone with you."

Karen nodded. She was about to pick Hannie, when Alex said she had to go too.

"NO fighting you two." Anya instructed. "And stay together."

"Yes Mama." Alex said. With that, she took Karen's hand and the two left in the direction of the ladies' room.

While I kept an eye out for the girls' return, Anya kept her blue eyes peeled for Jon.

I giggled as I realized what was going on.

Anya hadn't mentioned a boyfriend since we had met her and she also hadn't shown any interest in any of the boys our age back home.

This could only mean one thing. She had a crush on him.

Since I, along with Claud, Stacey and even Mal had boyfriends, I hoped things worked out for Anya and Jon. That would also explain why we walked halfway across the park to meet Genie.

As we got into the line to meet Genie, I glanced down at my watch and realized it had been some time since Karen and Alex had gone to the bathroom.

I nudged Claud, who looked over at me with a giggling Sari in her arms.

"Karen and Alex have been in the bathroom for a long time." I said. "Maybe one of us should go check on them."

"I'll do it. " Claudia said. "Sari told me she had to go a few minutes ago anyway."

"Okay." I said. "Be careful."

"I will." Claud replied. With that, she took off.

Meanwhile, Gabbi was jumping up and down with excitement.

She tugged on Anya's arm.

Anya smiled down at her.

"May I help you, Miss Gabbi?" She asked.

"Can we meet Genie, Anastasia Springer, please?" Gabbi asked. She then attempted to say please in Russian, which got Anya giggling.

"You're cute, you know that." She said, picking Gabbi up and placing her on her shoulder so she could see better.

Gabbi giggled in response and held on as she peered into the crowd.

"Where's Genie going?" She asked.

"What do you mean, Gabbers?" Anya asked.

Gabbi pointed ahead of her, to where Genie was walking away.

"Oh no." She said. "Come on, sweetie. Let's see if we can catch up to him. Can you hold on?"

"Sure!" Gabbi said honestly. And she did just that.

Anya ran after Genie and caught up to him a few minutes later.

She put Gabbi on the ground and took her hand. They walked over to where the cast member was, who was accompanying Genie.

"Excuse me. " Anya said. "But my name is Anastasia."

"Just like the princess!" Gabbi said with a smile.

Anya nodded.

"And this is Gabbi."

"HI!" Gabbi said warmly.

"She's a really big Genie fan and she wants to meet him."

"Well, ma'am, he'll be back out in about thirty minutes."

Anya frowned.

"Well, we were actually heading somewhere else soon. You see, we're not alone. I came with my daughter and a bunch of my friends and some of our baby-sitting charges."

The cast member nodded.

"Well, he'll be back out a couple more times if you'll be back."

"Listen, sir, Genie's her favorite character. We practically ran across the park to meet him. Un fortunately, this is the only time that we have to do it."

"Okay." He said. "I'm sure Genie will make an exception for you."

"Thank you. " Anya said gratefully. "You don't' know what this means to Gabbi."

Gabbi gave the cast member one of her famous smiles.

"Thank you, sir. " She said.

"You're welcome, young lady." He replied.

"Come on!" Anya said with a grin. With that, she led Gabbi over to where Genie was standing.

Gabbi grinned a mile wide as she approached him. She wasn't' scared at all.

Genie smiled at them.

"Ah, two young princesses." Genie said with a smile. "And apparently, one of them isn't' so good at time management." He winked at Anya.

Gabbi giggled.

"I'm not a princess!" She said.

"You're not?" Genie asked.

Gabbi shook her head.

"Nope!" She said.

"Okay! I must be a princess." He said, changing his voice.

Gabbi giggled.

"You're silly!" She said.

"You know, this would probably look better on your head." With that, he placed a smaller version of Jasmine's crown upon the four-year-old's head.

Gabbi grinned.

"Thanks, Genie!" Gabbi said happily.

"You're welcome." He said. "AH, now I can finally go back to being Genie." He turned to Anya just then. "Someone has just made a Genie's wish come true."

"And what do you mean by that?" Anya asked.

"Well, it's nice to see you. " He said.

"Same here." Anya agreed

But before they could get into a conversation, Genie was mobbed by a crowd of people.

Gabbi waved good-bye as Anya lead her back to where we were waiting.

When they returned, Gabbi told everyone about her meeting with Genie.

Mariah and the other kids were excited to hear about it.

Emily wanted to see Gabbi's crown and the little girl obliged.

Once everyone had calmed down, Anya noticed two kids were missing.

"Where are Alex and Karen?" She asked. "Didn't they come back from the bathroom yet?"

I shook my head.

"NO." I said. "We've been looking for them for the past half an hour."

Anya frowned.

"WE have to find them." She said. "I can't lose Alex. She's everything to me."

"We'll find them." I assured her. "Karen's gotten lost before."

"You don't' understand." Anya said as her frown deepened. "I almost lost Alex once before."

"We'll find her." I repeated. With that, I went into president/coach mode and organized a search party in ten minutes.

Anya decided to search on her own. She took off in the direction of the bathrooms. When she didn't' find her daughter and Karen there, she decided to look at the last place she was, which was back where Genie was located.

Throughout the search, she prayed that God would keep Alex and Karen safe.

The only thing going through her mind at the moment was when she had almost lost Alex two years ago.

She couldn't go through that again. She wouldn't let it come to that if she could help it.

Unconsciously, she started humming "Journey to the Past" as she continued to search.

IT kept her mind on the task at hand and stopped her mind from wandering.

Meanwhile, Alex and Karen were walking around World Showcase, trying to find us.

"I told you to wait until someone came to get us!" Alex said in frustration. "Now we're lost."

"Don't' worry." Karen assured her. "We'll get help."

"Where?" Alex asked. "We're not supposed to talk to strangers"

"There!" Karen shouted. She pointed to where Genie was talking to a few kids.

Alex frowned.

"How can Genie help?" She asked.

"He can grant wishes." Karen explained.

"He can only do that in the movie and TV Show. " Alex said wisely.

"How do you know?" Karen challenged.

Alex gave her a glare that rivaled her mother's.

"I just do. " Karen said. "Come on." With that, she led the way over to where Genie was standing. "Uh, excuse me, Genie?" She said without any fear whatsoever. "HI! I'm Karen Brewer and this is my friend, Alex."

"Oh hello, young ladies. I'm surprised you're not with a grown up."

Before Karen could speak, Alex beat her to it.

"We would be with my Mama if someone hadn't been so stubborn."

"I'm not stubborn!" Karen shot back.

"So, you're lost. " He said.

"Yeah." Alex replied. "Can you help us find my Mama again? Please?"

"Forget about finding Anya." Karen said, her eyes lighting up. "I have a wish."

"You know finding the grown up you were with is more important than any other wish at this point."

Karen frowned.

"Not to me." She said. "Besides, there's someone I've wanted to meet ever since I came here."

"Would that be Alex's mother?" He asked.

"No." Karen said.

"I was afraid of that."

Without any hesitation or preamble, Karen continued.

"I want to meet Ariel!"

"Look over there." He said.

"Where? " Karen asked.

"Over there." Genie said, pointing to wear a small family sat, eating lunch.

Karen wasted no time in pulling Alex quite literally over to the spot.

Genie went after them, feeling he needed to keep them safe until they found Anya.

As they got closer, Karen's eyes widened in surprise.

It was then that a little girl with blond hair and blue eyes spotted them.

"Mama, look!" She said.

The woman, Jodi, glanced up and smiled at the two girls approaching her.

"Hi there." She said as she stood up and approached them.

Karen couldn't speak for a second.

"Are you lost, sweetheart?" Jodi asked kindly.

Karen came back with her own question.

"Are you really Ariel?" She asked.

"Yup!" The little girl who had spotted them said. "My Mama's Ariel."

"Wow!" Karen said with a grin.

Jodi smiled back at her.

"What's your name, honey?" She asked.

"Karen. " Karen replied. "Karen Brewer."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Karen. And whose your friend?"

"Alex. " She said.

"It's nice to meet you too, Alex." Jodi said sincerely.

"Hi." Alex said. She suddenly got the urge to ask a question of her own. "Will you sing "Part of Your world" for us, please?"

"I'd love too." Jodi said. "But first, we need to find your parents and let them know you're okay. Are you two sisters?" She asked.

Karen shook her head.

"No. We're just friends. Kind of."

"Kind of?" Jodi asked.

"It's her fault we're lost." Alex said. "I told her we should stay in one place."

"It's not my fault!" Karen shot back.

"Is too!"

"Okay, okay." Jodi said knowingly. 'I think there's another song you two need to hear first."

"Which one? " Alex asked.

Jodi smiled and started to sing the song she thought would help the two children.

As she finished it, Karen sat next to the little girl who introduced herself as Delaney and the two started to talk.

Jodi took Alex aside once she was sure that Karen was okay for the moment.

"Alex, sweetheart, does your Mama have a cell phone?" She asked.

"Yes. " Alex replied. She gave Jodi the number and waited for her to call.

Once Jodi had gotten off the phone, she informed both girls that Anya was on her way and they could stay with her until she arrived.

Both children were fine with this. Karen continued her conversation with Delaney.

It wasn't long before Anya arrived. She sighed with relief upon seeing Alex and Karen safe and sound.

"Alex!" She said in relief. "Thank God you're okay. You had me really worried." She scooped her daughter into her arms and hugged her tightly. She planted a kiss on each of her cheeks and put a hand through her hair.

Alex snuggled in for a cuddle and apologized for worrying her.

After she put her down, she went over to Karen and gave her a hug as well.

"Do you know how worried Kristy and I were? " She asked.

"I told her to stay in one place." Alex informed her mother.

It was then that Anya glanced up and saw Jodi standing there.

"Thank you so much. " She said. "You kept the girls safe."

"It was my pleasure." Jodi said sincerely. "They're sweet kids."

Anya nodded in agreement.

"All right you two. " She said. "It's time to get back to the others."

Karen and Alex nodded.

"Can we say good-bye to Ariel first?" Karen asked.

Anya was taken aback at first, but quickly recovered.

"Sure." She said. "And I Think you have something else to say to her too. Hmm?"

Karen nodded. SHE ran forward and gave Jodi a hug, which the young mother returned.

"Thank you so much for helping us, Ariel!" Karen said. "You're welcome, Karen. " She replied. "And you're welcome too, sweetheart." She said, hugging Alex. "But I Think you're forgetting one thing."

"What's that?" The girls asked in unison.

Jodi smiled.

"Didn't you ask me to sing Part of Your World?"

"Oh yeah!" Karen said with a grin.

After Jodi was done singing, she gave both girls one more hug and said good-bye one more time and watched them leave with Anya.

As they walked, they stopped when they heard clapping a few yards away.

Anya turned around and smiled when she saw who it was.

She mouthed thank you to him before leading the girls back to where we were all waiting.

The second they got back, Karen couldn't hold it in any longer.

"We met Ariel! We met Ariel!" She exclaimed.

"You did?" I asked in surprise.

"Yup! She helped us until Mama came to get us. " Alex confirmed. "She even sung IN Harmony and Part of Your World for us."

"She did?" Mal asked.

"Yup!" Alex said. "It was awesome!"

Anya smiled as she wrapped an arm around Alex and hugged her close.

I did the same with Karen before leading the way to a place for lunch.

"Do you guys want to go to the Typhoon Lagoon tomorrow?" I asked once we were all sitting down.

Everyone readily agreed to my suggestion and plans were made for the next day…


	19. Chapter 19

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy! 

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 19

Later that night, the kids were especially excited about our plans for the next day.

As the minutes ticked by, I was starting to regret letting Karen have ice cream for dessert.

The only two who weren't jumping up and down were Charlotte and Emily.

Emily was fast asleep and Charlotte was reading her copy of "Charlotte's Web."

Alex was semi calm, but she was also looking forward to the trip to Typhoon Lagoon.

She had laid out her bathing suit already. I was surprised that it wasn't Ariel or Anastasia themed.

It was bright yellow with different colored cats adorning the front. They were all wearing tropical bathing suits.

Karen's bathing suit had Ariel on it with a blue and pink border around it.

As for Emily, she had a traditional pink one piece as did most of the other kids in various colors.

Gabbi's bathing suit was the coolest of all. It was rainbow and had My Little Pony on it.

I was sporting one with different colored soccer balls, while Claud's had an array of different candy on it.

As for Mal, she had a light purple one with different colored smiley faces on it.

Margo's had Mickey on it and was red. It also had a picture of Pluto in the upper right corner.

As for Sari, she had a red, blue and white striped one with stars on the sides and a picture of Goofy on it.

Charlotte's was one that was pink and yellow with a picture of an apple on it that said I Love New York.

I had a feeling she had gotten it when Stacey had taken her to NYC last summer.

As for Mariah, she had a bathing suit with Stitch on it. It was blue and pink with different Hawaiian prints on it.

Alex had a Lilo and Stitch bathing suit as well, but she had left it back home in Stoneybrook. Hers was also blue, but it had Lilo instead of Stitch on it.

Sari had some beach toys with Goofy on them that she wanted to bring along.

Claud and I convinced her to leave most of her toys at the hotel.

We allowed her to bring one Goofy figure that she could play with in the water.

As for the others, they were content to use the toys provided by the park.

Anya agreed to bring her kid kit with her just in case any of our charges got bored.

The only one who didn't like the no toy rule was Claire. She wanted to bring her lamb along. She almost pitched a fit when Mal said no.

After she had convinced Claire that Ba-ba wasn't a swimming lamb, all was said and done.

The kids hung out for a little while before we put them to bed.

Anya sung "Once Upon a December" For Alex, Sari, Karen and Gabbi and then sung "Journey to the Past" after Charlotte and Karen requested it.

Once the kids were asleep, us baby-sitters stayed up for a while and talked.

"So," Claud said, raising her eyebrows at our newest member, "when's the wedding?"

"What are you talking about?" Anya asked as she popped a pretzel into her mouth.

"Just what I said." Claud reiterated. "When's the wedding?"

Anya laughed.

"Not for a very LOOONG time if ever. Jon and I are just friends. He is pretty cute though, especially when he smiles."

"Does he have dimples? " Claud wanted to know.

"One on his chin." She said. "It's visible when he smiles."

"I want him!" Claud playfully whined.

"You already have a boyfriend back home." I reminded her. "Besides, I think it's a royal offense to steal one from a Grand Duchess."

We all laughed over that one.

Just then, Anya's cell phone rang.

She picked it up and answered in Russian.

The blush that crept up her cheeks made me realize the person on the other end hadn't understood her.

"I'll be right there." She said. She hung up a minute later.

"What was that all about?" Mal asked.

Anya shrugged.

"It was Ava." She said, referring to the woman who had rescued Pluto for Emily. "She said I have a visitor."

Claud exchanged a look with me. She jumped to her feet and started rummaging around in her suitcase.

I cautioned her to keep it down so she wouldn't' wake up the kids.

"What are you doing?" Anya questioned her.

"If it's who I think it is, you can't go downstairs wearing that." She said, gesturing to Anya's outfit from earlier.

"Why not? " She asked. "I think it looks fine."

"Pardon me, You're Grace," Claud said. "But trust me on this. If there are two things I know well, its fashion and guys."

"Okay. " She said uncertainly.

By the time Claud was done, Anya looked like she was ready for a ball.

She was wearing a dark purple dress that reached just above her knees and sandals to match.

Her hair was pulled back in a French braid with a few bangs framing her face on either side.

She was wearing her usual necklace that Sara had given her the day she was born and Claud had added a pair of purple earrings shaped like music box keys to finish off the outfit.

"Thanks. " Anya said when she got a look at herself in the mirror.

"No problem. " Claudia replied.

"I'll give the earrings back tomorrow."

"Don't' worry about it. " Claud replied. "You can have them. I have another pair."

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Positive." Claud assured her. 'I made them."

"You made them?" She asked.

Claudia nodded.

"She makes all kinds of jewelry. " Mal put in. "She sees everything with an artist's eye."

"That's incredible!" Anya said as she admired her new earrings in the mirror.

Before leaving, she kissed Alex on the cheek and whispered to her that she loved her before leaving her in our capable hands.

After Anya was sure Alex would be okay, she took her purse and headed for the door.

"Good luck." Claudia said.

"I don't need it. " Anya replied. "But thanks anyway." With that, she was gone.

"Do you think I should have reminded her to be back before midnight?" I asked.

Claud giggled.

"Kristy!"

"What?" I asked.

"The last time I checked, her name was Anastasia, not Cinderella."

"Still." I insisted. 'I wouldn't want her to get locked out of the hotel."

Claud shrugged.

"Well if worse comes to worse, she can always bunk with Mickey or Goofy."

"I don't think their club house is opened that late." I said. "Besides, you have to pay by the cheese pound to get in."

We both started cracking up at that one.

"I wonder how the others are doing back home. " I said after the laughter died down.

"I know the triplets are fine." Mal said. "Mom sent them away to sports camp."

"Jeanine's studying abroad in Europe." Claudia piped up.

"You must love having the house to yourself when your parents go to work." Mal said.

"its fine most of the time. " Claudia said with a frown. 'IT does get lonely sometimes."

I could tell she was thinking of Mimi. Mimi was Claudia's grandmother. She and Claud had a special relationship and she loved all of us as well. We were all sad when she passed away a year ago.

Even though we all miss her, it's nothing compared to how much Claud does.

Sometimes I Think that Mimi was the only one who truly understood her.

"How do you think our walking disaster's doing?" I asked in an effort to change the subject.

Claud laughed at this.

"He'll probably have dozens of stories to tell us when we get home."

"I think it's time to throw Anya in the deep end. " I said as I leaned against my pillow.

"What do you mean?" Mal asked.

"Well, she's proven she can not only handle your family, but handle herself very well in an emergency. I think it's time we give her a chance with Jackie."

"Kristi, we want her to stay in the club. " Mal pointed out. "Not quit."

"Mal!" I said with a laugh. "Jackie's not that bad. He has a good heart."

"Not that bad?" Claud asked. "Need I Remind you about the time he got himself stuck in a tree or the time he got a mayonnaise jar stuck on his hand. Or the time he made Cokie Mason fall out of the tree when he hit his first home run."

"That was definitely memorable." I said. "In fact, I'll go as far to say that it was one of Jackie's finer moments."

We talked for a little bit longer before Mal started to get tired.

Claud went to bed soon after, which meant I was alone. I started reading the latest issue of Disney Adventure Magazine until I too fell asleep.

My last thoughts were of Anya and what she and her mystery guest were up to.

I just prayed she didn't' get locked out.

Before I knew it, I was fast asleep.

Meanwhile, Anya was sitting in a food court, sipping at a non alcoholic pina calotta.

She liked the taste of them and enjoyed one whenever she could.

As for Jon, he was absently twirling his spoon in a cup of coffee.

Anya looked slightly amused.

"You're gonna stir the sugar right out of there if you keep doing that." She said.

"That's what I'm aiming for." He said. 'I like my coffee black."

Anya nodded.

"So what brings you over to the hotel so late? " She asked. "Not that I Have a curfew or anything. I'm on my own here."

"I was bored and I couldn't sleep." He replied. He took a bite of his hamburger which had a few fries in it.

"Alex does the same thing with her milk shake when I let her have one." Anya said with a grin. "She loves dipping her French fries in it."

Jon smiled.

"Well then I'm in good company." He said.

"She also loves tartar sauce on chicken nuggets as well as fish sticks."

"So much for saving neemo." He said.

Anya laughed.

"Strangely enough, that's one movie she can't stand. Dory got on her nerves. She did like the sea turtles though. She has a big plush of Crush in her room. She also liked Bruce. In fact, he was the one who helped her not be afraid of sharks anymore."

"Well that's great. But not so great for Neemo and friends."

Anya blushed.

"I'm sorry. You probably wanna talk about something else. WE can change the subject."

"no. I'm flexible. " He said.

"Still. I'm sure you didn't come all this way to hear me ramble about my daughter."

"How do you know I didn't?" He asked. "Maybe I'm psychic and that was the reason I came."

Anya smiled.

"Enough about me and the little girl I would do anything for. What's your story?"

"It Could be anything." He said.

"Okay. Let's start with your job. How did you get involved with Disney?"

"Well a lot of luck and a college program was recruiting people. Right place, the right time."

"Gotcha. You must have a lot of fun helping the kids."

"It's a very rewarding job." He replied.

Anya glanced down at her cell phone, relieved that it hadn't rung this whole time.

"Do you have any pets?" She asked.

"A dog." He replied. "But they don't allow pets here."

Anya smiled.

"SO do we." She said. 'I mean have a dog. His name's Pucca. Alex named him. He's a bit Chan. He's really cute. He's a people dog. He's really protective of us though. He's brown and white with really cute, big brown eyes. And I probably just embarrassed myself beyond repair."

"A four legged teddy bear." He said. "Or a teddy dog."

Anya giggled.

Jon did too and Anya noticed two things.

"Your laugh sounds a lot like Goofy. " She said.

"I get that a lot from people." He said.

Anya nodded.

"Are you okay? " She asked. "You seem a little distracted."

"This is how I always am." He said. "I'm fine."

"Care to try again?" Anya asked.

"I'm fine." He insisted.

"Wanna take a walk?" She asked. "I promise I wont' put you on a leash."

"Aww." He said playfully.

Anya grinned.

"And if you're really good, I'll buy you a biscuit." With that, she paid the bill and they left.

They ended up going to the Magic Kingdom and got aboard the Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover.

They started talking about this and that and just enjoying each other's company.

"So do you have any siblings?" She asked as the ride made its fourth go around.

"A couple sisters." He answered. "How about you?"

"I have one older one." She said. "She's twenty-three, soon to be twenty-four."

"What's her name?" He asked.

"Sara." She replied. She noticed he was leaning towards the edge of the ride. "Watch out. " She said. "You might fall out."

"Oh, I should have paid more attention." He said, sounding like Genie.

'This is not gonna be good.' She thought to herself.

"So are you on your own?" She asked.

"For now." He replied.

"Are your parents living somewhere else?" She asked.

"Yup. As a matter of fact, they are." He said. Then without thinking, he asked, "How about yours?"

Anya got quiet for a few minutes, which led him to think he had asked the wrong thing.

"They're not around." She finally said.

"I'm really sorry to hear that." He said.

"It's okay. " Anya replied. "It's better that way."

"Why do you say that?" He asked. "If you don't mind me asking."

Anya shook her head.

"Our Dad left when I was two and then he was killed in a skiing accident. And our mother…let's just say she found other ways to occupy her time. Sara was more of a Mom to me than she ever was to either of us. We went to live with my Aunt Carol and Uncle Steve when Sara was fifteen and I was eight. Then when Sara was eighteen, she moved out and Alex and I Moved in with her three years later. I'm sorry. You probably didn't need to hear all of that. I don't know what's wrong with me tonight. I'm usually not that open with people."

"It's okay. Trust me." He said. "Besides, I have my own demons to deal with."

"I know about them all too well." She said.

"Some people have skeletons in their closet. I have a warehouse full of them."

Anya grinned a little.

"Don't you mean wearwolves?"

"Nope. Warehouse." He said.

As the ride was going around for an eighth time, Anya glanced at her watch and realized it was getting late.

"Do you mind if we head back?" She asked. 'I promised Kristy I wouldn't be too late. And I don't want Alex waking up and me not being there. I Must sound like the worlds worst over protective mom you've ever heard of."

"Actually, it's very refreshing." He said.

"Really?" She asked.

"Definitely, yes." He said.

"You're not just bating me, are you?"

"No. Not at all." He said.

"Thanks. Some people don't get it." She continued. "If only they knew what she and I Have been through just to stay together."

"The problem is, people don't care."

"I guess you're what they would call a diamond in the rough?"

"The keyword is the rough." He muttered.

"What was that?" She asked.

"Nothing." He said.

"Okay." With that, they made their way back to the hotel.

Upon arriving, Anya stuck her right hand in her purse and rummaged around a little bit.

She said something in Russian that Jon figured was something she didn't' want to repeat.

"I got a great idea."

"Does it involve me finding my room key?" She asked.

"Yes." He said. With that, he raised his fist as though to pound on the door.

With the reflexes of someone who had lived on the streets for a while, Anya grabbed his hand before it could make contact with the wood.

"What are you doing?" She hissed.

Jon smiled.

"Knocking on the door." With that, he laughed.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" She asked.

"Nope." He said, sounding just like Goofy. " I have an idea. I'll knock on the other door and ask the people in there what time it is."

Anya growled in frustration.

"I don't have time for this." She said.

As Jon went for the door again, Anya grabbed his hand.

"Now wonder you do the voice of Goofy so well. Come on." With that, she led him away from the door and back down the hallway and back outside.

"I still wanna know what time it is. " He said.

""

"It's time for you to be quiet so I can think." Anya said.

"You think and I'll go see what time it is."

"Just stay close to me." She commanded rather than asked.

"Oh, it's one-thirty am." He said. "It sure would have been Goofy to knock on those people's doors."

Anya didn't answer. She let out a frustrated sigh and muttered something in Russian again.

"Come on." She said. "We need to find a place to sleep for the night."

"You know our resort has several different hotels."

"Outside, genius." Anya replied.

"Do you have a tent?" He asked.

"not with me." Anya said.

They walked a little while until they came to a pretty looking park.

"Come on." Anya said. "We can rest for a while in there." SHE pointed to a pavilion and led the way inside.

Settling down on the ground, she tried to get comfortable.

"I know it's not what you're used to." She said. "But it'll due for now."

Jon nodded.

"I got a better idea." He said.

"What?" She asked, already half asleep.

"Wouldn't you just love a pillow?" He asked.

"Will it make you be quiet so I can sleep?" She asked.

"Not likely." He said honestly.

"Shh." She said as though she were talking to Alex. "It's time to sleep now."

"Oh give me a home where the buffalo rome…." He started to sing.

She made an impatient noise with her teeth and raised her eyebrows.

"You are very hard to sleep with." She said. Then realizing what she said, she added quickly, 'I did NOT mean that in a romantic way."

"That never crossed my mind." He said.

"Well is sleep crossing your mind any time soon? Like now maybe?"

"You know something? You're worse than Pucca during a thunderstorm."

"It's not my fault that I'm over caffeinated." He said defensively.

"Go to sleep." She said firmly.

"I'm not tired."

"Well, I'm going to sleep. Sweet dreams." She mumbled something in Russian before drifting off.

The last thing she heard was Jon singing the first verses of Ricky Raccoon.

Shortly after falling asleep, Anya found herself in an entirely different place altogether. A place she never wanted to be again.

Just then, she heard someone calling for her. She didn't' have to listen hard to know who it was.

"MAMA! Mama help!" A small voice cried.

"Alex!" Anya yelled in desperation. She ran to where her daughter's voice was coming from and found herself in a hallway lined with staircases and many doors.

When she got closer, she heard someone call her name. This time the voice was menacing and evil as the blackness that surrounded her.

"Anastasia. " It said. "Anastasia."

"Whose there!" She demanded.

"You and your daughter both need help with your memories." It commented. "Maybe this will help yo uremember!" With that, Anya found herself on the deck of a ship with fire blazing from every corner.

She coughed and sputtered, even though she knew the fire couldn't burn her this time.

She frantically searched for her daughter, but couldn't find Alex anywhere.

As she climbed up on a pile of barrels, she felt someone push her from behind.

She heard an evil voice whisper, "Dosvedanya" before she felt herself falling to the icy water below.

Hitting the water, she started to flail about.

As she got her barings, she yelled her daughter's name and prayed she would find her safe and sound.

As she started to swim, she felt someone grab her shoulders and start to shake her. She lashed out and managed to hit whoever it was.

All she wanted was to find her daughter. She had to find her. She just had to…

As Anya struck out again, she felt herself hit solid ground before her eyes opened all the way.

She could still feel wetness on her cheeks and realized a minute later that she was crying.

As she felt the person touch her shoulder again, she struck out once more. This time, she felt her hand connect with something soft and heard a slight crack.

"Anastasia!" She heard someone shout as though they were trying to get her attention.

As she started to come to, she let out a shuddering sob as her surroundings came into better focus.

As she realized where she was, she frowned upon seeing the blood on Jon's nose.

"I'm sorry. " She whispered. "Are you okay?"

Even though she was still visibly shaken, she wanted to make sure he was all right.

"That's okay. I didn't need that nose anyway. " He said.

"Alex." She breathed as a chill ran up her spine. "I have to make sure she's okay. There was so much smoke and the fire was. I couldn't…I couldn't find her and then someone pushed me…I called out to her, but I couldn't find her anywhere! It felt just like it did three years ago when it actually happened."

"Now I think we should start at the beginning." Jon said.

Anya took another shuddering breath as more tears came.

"Alex." She said again, getting more distressed by the minute. "I have to make sure she's okay! I can't let him…not again. Not after I promised her I wouldn't…" Her voice trailed off as she broke down.

Jon reached out and cautiously drew her in for a hug.

When it became apparent that she wasn't going to hit him again, he tightened his hold a little bit.

"Shh, shh," He soothed. "It's gonna be okay. She's back at the hotel. I'm sure Claud and Kristy have everything under control. Wait a second! If you go to the front desk, maybe whoever is there can let you in."

"It's too late." She said, wiping at her eyes. "It's just…that dream was so real…it felt like I was back on the Mariata when it caught on fire. I was so scared I was going to lose her…and I almost did..." She took a shuddering breath as she tried to stop the tears as well as the unpleasant memories from coming to the forefront.

Once she had calmed down, she looked at Jon and blushed.

"I'm sorry. " She said. "You're probably tired too. I'll leave you alone so you can get some sleep."

Jon shook his head.

"No." He insisted. "It's fine. I wanna help you feel better. Do you wanna talk about it?"

Anya thought for a few minutes.

"I don't wanna bore you." She said as she wiped the last remaining tears away.

"It wouldn't bore me at all." Jon insisted.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yeah." He said.

"Okay." She said. But as she started her tale, she yawned. "maybe it's better if we wait until tomorrow."

"Fine by me. " He said. "Sweet dreams."

"Thanks." Anya said as her eyes started to close once again.

The nightmare had taken a lot out of her and she felt worn out. The whole evening had been tiring for her and all she wanted to do was sleep.

Well to be fair, the whole evening hadn't been tiring. Going out with Jon for something to eat hadn't been tiring at all. She had rather liked that part a lot.

In fact, she had enjoyed it immensely. She was starting to enjoy spending time with Jon.

If only Jon lived in Stoneybrooke. But that was wishful thinking on her part.

She would date him in a minute if they lived closer to one another. She felt they had a lot in common. And the fact that he liked kids was a plus in her book. She had made a promise to herself and to Alex that she would never date anyone who didn't like kids or treated them with the respect they deserved.

Jon was perfect in that way.

Anya also liked his antics and found them funny most of the time.

As she drifted off to sleep once again, she wondered if she would meet anyone like Jon back home. She highly doubted it, but one could hope…


	20. Chapter 20

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy! 

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 20

Anya bolted upright, panting slightly. She couldn't' get the image of the burning ship out of her mind.

As she fully awoke, she heard Jon mumbling something.

"Jon?" She asked. "What's the matter?"

"I don't wanna cross a bunch of black cats, I don't wanna brake my grandmother's antique mirror and I don't wanna walk under a ladder! I'm Goofy about Superstitions!"

He woke up fully a few minutes later.

Anya blinked in confusion.

"Okay." She said. "I'm going back to sleep. IN fact, I'm heading back to the hotel. Wanna join me?" With that, she gathered up her stuff and stood to leave.

"Wait, don't leave!" He shouted. "It's Friday!"

"Yeah. " Anya said a little uncertainly. "And tomorrow's Saturday."

"Yes. But today's the thirteenth." He told her.

"So?"

Just then, a meow was heard outside their shelter.

Anya peeked out to find a black kitten with blue eyes staring back at her.

"Aw, hi, little one. " Anya said softly. "What are you doing out here? Come here." With that, she picked the kitten up and carried her back into the shelter. "Look what I found." She said, holding the kitten up for Jon to see.

At that point, Jon jumped up, ran out of the pavilion and right into a tree.

Anya didn't know whether to laugh or make sure he was okay.

"Well," she said to the kitten in her arms, "I guess that brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, watch out for that tree."

Jon got his barings and followed Anya back to the hotel.

Jon and Anya said good-night to one another outside the hotel door once someone at the desk had given her another room key.

It wasn't long before Anya returned. She put her purse down and rushed to the bed she shared with Alex.

She bent down and kissed her cheek.

As she put a hand through her hair, the seven-year-old woke up.

"Mama?" She said sleepily.

"Shh," Anya assured her. "It's okay. Go back to sleep." She whispered something to her in Russian and Alex nodded before drifting back into dreamland.

Anya sighed with relief, climbed in next to her and pulled her close as she too fell asleep for a few more hours.

When we all woke up for the rest of the day, Karen was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement. She couldn't' wait to get to the water park.

Just then, Karen squealed with happiness.

"Kristy! Kristy!" She shouted.

"What is it?" I asked.

"There's a kitten in the room!"

"What are you talking…" My voice trailed off as I heard an unmistakable mew.

"Sorry about that." A groggy voice said from the next bed over. "Come here, Marie. Pssst!" She said gently.

The kitten, Marie, obeyed a few minutes later.

"I'm gonna try and find her a good home." She said. "Sara wouldn't let us keep her."

"Why not? " I asked.

"She's allergic to them. " A small voice piped up from beside Anya.

"Morning, my cherina." Anya greeted. "How long have you been awake?"

Alex shrugged.

"Are we going to the pool today?" She asked.

"Kind of. " Anya said. "It's called a wave pool."

"Awesome!" The little girl shouted. She jumped out of bed and got ready in record time.

Karen followed suit a few minutes later.

Anya and I got ready a little more slowly.

We were just about to leave when the phone rang.

Anya picked it up on the second ring.

"Hello?" She said.

"Hi." Jon said, sounding hoarse. 'I don't' feel well. I don't think I can come with you today."

Anya grinned to herself.

"Well you know what? You're fortunate I spent the last four years taking care of Alex and six months before that caring for some kids in an orphanage."

"Then you understand the importance of me getting rest." Jon said hopefully.

"I know the perfect cure for a sore throat." She said.

"Chicken soup?" He asked.

"Nope. Coming out with us. Some fresh air will do you good. Besides, Marie will miss you if you don't come."

"Marie?" He asked.

"That's what I've decided to name the kitten." She said. "We're not keeping her though. My sister's allergic to cats."

"I see." Jon said. HE slipped out of his sore throat tone for a minute. "I might be contagious."

"We'll risk it. " Anya said. "Get ready and meet us downstairs for breakfast in a half an hour. Also, I know exactly what you have. It's called Friday the 13thitis. And you'll get over if you come out. And that's not a suggestion. As the Grand Duchess of Russia.."

In the background, Alex started to giggle. She loved it when her mother got like this.

"…I order you to meet us downstairs. No arguments. I could have you beheaded."

"I would expect that to happen on Friday the 13th."

"Do I have to say it in Russian?" She asked.

"She can do it too!" Alex said.

"Don't you think Saturday the 14th would be a much more fun time to go?"

"Just get your butt downstairs. Dosvedanya. And that doesn't mean good-bye." With that, she hung up.

Before hanging up on his end, Jon wondered aloud, "I wonder if that means I'll see you on the 14th."

Back in our hotel room, we were all awash in giggles.

Alex had even started crying a little from laughing so hard.

"That was great, Mama!" Alex said in between giggles.

Anya shrugged, but she was smiling too.

"Well, like Sara always says, if you got it, flaunt it."

"What does flaunt it mean? " Alex asked curiously.

"I'll tell you when you're sixteen." Anya replied. "Now go brush your teeth and make sure you have your Ariel towel in your bag. Scoot."

"Okay." Alex said. With that, she left to do as she was told.

Getting downstairs for breakfast, we helped the kids decide what they wanted to eat. We tried to veer them away from anything that wasn't on the food pyramid for this time of morning.

That included a chocolate Sundae, chocolate chip pancakes and a five foot chocolate cake.

Just as we had gotten the kids settled down and were starting our own conversations, we heard something like Goofy's shriek and someone falling downstairs.

"What was that!" Alex exclaimed in surprise.

"I'll go see." Anya said. She got up and left the table.

As she took off, Sari looked around and asked, "Goofy?" SHE glanced back at Claudia for confirmation.

Claud just smiled and helped her cut up some fruit the waitress had brought for us to munch on.

Meanwhile, out in the hallway, Anya had just helped Jon to his feet.

"What was that all about?" She asked. "We could hear it all the way in the restaurant."

"It's Friday the 13th." HE said. "Need I say more?"

Anya rolled her eyes and held out her hand.

"Would you allow me to escort you to our table?" She asked regally.

"Well since it seems I've broken every bone in my body, why not?"

Anya gave him a once over to make sure he wasn't' really injured too badly.

Once she was sure he was good to go, she led him back to our table.

When they arrived, we all turned to stare at them.

"He's even cuter than I remember." Claud whispered to me.

I shrugged. I wasn't really into boys right now. Even though I Had a sort of boyfriend back home. His name was Bart Taylor and he coached his own softball team like I coached the Krushers.

His team was called Bart's bashers. They often challenged the Krushers to games.

"Everyone," Anya said in an effort to get our attention, "I would like you to meet Jon. He's a new friend of mine."

"You know, I really think we should have waited until tomorrow when my head was in the game."

"It'll be fine. " She hissed back. "Relax." She led him over to a particular chair and grinned at who was sitting in it. "Jon, I would like you to meet my daughter, Alexandra. Alex, this is my friend, Jon."

Jon smiled at her warmly. HE then got an idea. He bowed to her, making Alex smile.

"It's nice to make your acquaintance, Princess."

"Likewise, kind sir." Alex said. she curtsied to him perfectly and sat back down. She turned to Anya just then. "Mama, may I have what Mariah's getting?"

"That depends." Anya said as she ruffled her daughter's hair.

"What do you mean?" The seven-year-old asked.

"What's she getting?" Anya inquired.

"No. " Alex said, confusing her mother.

"What do you mean no? No isn't a type of food."

Alex giggled.

"I mean what does depends mean?"

Anya was about to answer when they heard a slight crash.

"Are you okay?" Anya aske Jon, who was now rubbing his head.

"Yeah. " He said. "I'm fine. The room's spinning around and look at the pretty birdies."

As he was about to fall, Claud caught him.

"Here." She said, stuffing a Mickey bar into his hand. "You need this more than I do."

"Thanks. " He said. He opened the bar and started to eat it.

Anya mouthed thank you to Claud before turning her attention back to Alex.

"So what's Mariah getting, my cherina? " She asked.

"Strawberry pancakes and bacon." She replied.

"Okay. " Anya said. "That' sounds good."

"Thanks!" Alex said. She gave her mother a hug before going back to the conversation she had been having with Charlotte and Mariah before Anya had come back.

As Jon went to give Anya a small hug, he managed to knock over a few cups. This included Emily's sippy cup full of juice.

"Kristy, all gone!" She whimpered before bursting into tears.

I scooped Emily up and gave her a hug before promising we would get her more juice.

"See?" Jon whispered in Anya's left ear, "I told you Friday the 13th is bad."

"It was just an accident." Anya whispered back.

"Okay." He said. "And me falling down the stairs?"

"It was you being careless."

"Mama?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, sweetheart?" Anya said.

"Can we bring some food back for Marie?"

"Sure!" Anya replied. "We'll get some milk for her before we leave for Typhoon lagoon."

"Claire's the goon!" Margo said with a giggle.

"Am not!" Claire shot back.

This affectively set a fight going between the youngest Pike sisters.

Mallory handled it with ease, since it was routine.

After Margo had gotten a time out and Claire had been calmed by Mal, our food arrived.

When breakfast ended, we went back upstairs to get ready for our trip to typhoon lagoon.

Jon insisted on waiting for us in the hallway, since I was helping Emily to change into her bathing suit and Anya had to help Alex with something.

Anya assured us that everything was okay as she led Alex into the bathroom.

Once everyone was ready and Marie had been fed, we met up with Jon and headed off to the lagoon.

When we arrived, we rounded up the kids to put sunscreen on them and to review the safety rules of the pool. We were aware some of the kids like Charlotte and even Karen and Alex knew how to behave in and around water. But some of the younger kids, like Gabbi and Emily, needed a little reminder.

After that was done, we let the kids go have fun. We made sure Emily and Sari had a sitter with them since they were still young.

After going on the slides for a little while, we headed over to the wave pool.

After reviewing the rules with the kid's one more time, we turned them loose.

As we relaxed in lounge chairs and kept a close watch on the kids, we started talking amongst ourselves.

I noticed that Anya and Jon had gotten two chairs close to one another and were talking with their heads fairly close together.

They did join in our conversation from time to time, but I could tell they wanted some time alone.

Claudia whispered to me that she bet me five bucks that they would kiss by the end of the day.

I shoved her playfully and told her she was out of her mind.

I was about to say something else, when I heard someone shouting for someone else to stop.

"Karen!" Mariah's normally patient voice shouted. "Stop splashing my sister! She doesn't wanna be splashed."

"Karen…" I said warningly. "If Gabbi doesn't wanna be splashed, leave her a lone."

"Kristy, I was just playing."

"I know." I said. "But still. You shouldn't' splash someone if they don't want to be splashed."

"Okay. " Karen said. "I'll try and stop."

"Good girl." I praised. "I know you can do it. " With that, I went back to my conversation with Claud.

No more then ten minutes later, I heard someone else yelling for Karen to stop whatever she was doing.

"Karen, stop it!" Alex said firmly. "I don't wanna play anymore."

"Come on." Karen coaxed. "We were having fun."

"You were having fun. " Alex pointed out. "I'm getting out for a while. See if Claire wants to play." With that, she got out of the pool and headed over to where we were sitting.

As I watched her progress, I saw Karen get out and follow her.

As Karen ran after her, Alex made a bee line for her mother's chair.

Halfway there, Karen ran up to her and tagged her.

Unfortunately, Alex ended up losing her balance. This caused her to slip on some water and fall on her left knee.

Anya jumped up the second she heard Alex start crying.

Getting to Alex's side, Anya picked her daughter up and carried her over to the chair she had been sitting in.

She put a hand through her hair and hugged her close in an effort to comfort her.

"What happened?" Anya asked as she pulled away so she could examine Alex's injury.

"Karen made me fall!" Alex sobbed.

I glared at my little sister.

"Karen Brewer…." I said. "Come here now."

Karen nodded. She knew whenever I used her first and last name, I meant business. She also knew she had to listen to me when Mom and Watson weren't around.

"Yes? " She asked softly.

"Did you push Alex?"

"We were playing tag and I tagged her." She said. "I didn't mean to make her fall."

Even though I knew that was probably true, Karen had been a little too hyper all day. I had to get her to calm down.

"This is your last chance." I said. "If you splash anyone else when they don't wanna be splashed, you're going on time out. Do you understand me, young lady?"

"Yes." She said.

"Yes what?" I prompted.

"Yes ma'am."  
"Good. " With that, I let Karen go back to playing with the others.

Once she was gone, I turned to Anya.

"How's Alex?" I asked.

"Okay." She replied. "Her knee just looks bruised." SHE stood up, about to go get some ice, when Jon stood as well.

"I'll go and get it. "HE offered. He smiled at Alex and added, "Besides, all knee injuries deserve a brownie"

Alex managed a small smile for him.

"Thanks. " She whispered softly.

"No problem, Princess." He said. With that, he was gone.

Settling back against the chair, Anya cuddled Alex close while they waited for Jon to return.

She also prayed there wouldn't be anymore disasters on his way back.

As it happened, Jon's return was uneventful. He handed Anya the ice pack and Alex a peanut butter brownie.

He was just about to sit down when we all heard Claudia shriek in panic.

"Sari!" She cried.

Sari glanced back at Claudia as she stretched out her hand as though she were trying to reach for something.

"Goofy going swimming!" Sari announced. SHE frowned just then. "Come back Goofy!" She tried to catch up with him in her inner tube, but found she couldn't' reach him. She started to cry from frustration.

It was then that she discovered she couldn't' turn around. She also realized that the water was getting deeper.

"Sari!" Claud called frantically again. "NO!"

Jon was on his feet in a second.

"I'm braver than any number." He said.

"Good for you!" Anya said as she stared worriedly at Sari's floating inner tube. "Now go and save her."

Jon nodded and dove into the pool after the toddler.

"Bad inner tube." HE scolded the object. "Bad, bad inner tube!"

"Help!" Sari cried.

"Well, that's what the intended plan is." Jon replied. He reached out for her, but a wave interrupted his progress.

IT also knocked both of them aside.

This meant Sari was out of her inner tube. Now she was really scared.

Jon swam further, trying to grab a hold of the little girl.

"Help!" She cried again.

"I'm coming, sweetie!" Jon called out.

'Keep floating.' He thought desperately. 'Keep floating.'

Finally, after what seemed like hours, but was really only five minutes, Jon had a firm grip on Sari.

As he hugged her close and assured her she was okay, he chided her semi sternly for her attempted swimming lesson.

"Sweetie, you're not gonna be the next Neemo."

"Neemo bad!" Sari cried.

We all sighed with relief when we saw Jon emerge with Sari.

He handed her to Claud, who quickly dried her off and hugged her tightly.

Mal and I hugged her as well.

Anya would have hugged her too, but she still had Alex in her arms.

However, as Jon approached them, she set Alex down for a minute and stood up to meet him.

Once they were inches apart, Anya pulled him into her arms and hugged him fiercely.

She then planted a kiss on his cheek.

"You did it!" She said. "Thank you. You saved her life."

Jon blushed at the praise as well as Anya's earlier actions.

"It was no problem." He said modestly.

Just then, Sari let out a cry, followed by another and another.

"What's wrong, Sar-bear?" Claud asked.

"Goofy go bye-bye!" Sari cried. "Want Goofy back!"

Jon ran back to the pool, but Anya's voice stopped him.

"That's really not necessary." She said. "We can buy her another one."  
"Or I could rescue this one." He countered.

Anya let out a growl of frustration.

"Why are men so stubborn?" She asked rhetorically.

"I don't know." Alex answered. "Maybe it's because they're from Mars."

Anya chose to drop the subject, which was a wise move on her part.

Jon returned a few minutes later with Goofy. He handed him to Sari before collapsing in a chair beside Anya on her right.

"Here you go." He said to Sari.

"What do you say? " Claud prompted gently.

"Thank you. " Sari replied as she hugged Goofy tightly.

"NO problem." He said. He turned to Anya. "I'm gonna get going. I'm a little tired after all that excitement. I was wondering if I could have your phone number? Maybe we could go out to dinner sometime before you leave."

Anya grinned.

"That would be great." She said.

He indicated Alex too.

"All three of us." He said with a grin.

"That's really nice of you." Anya said.

"It's my pleasure." Jon said.

Anya scribbled down her cell phone number on a scrap of paper and handed it to him.

"Dosvedanya." Anya said as she watched Jon leave.

"Dosvedanya!"! Alex called after him.

And just like that, he was gone.

When we got back to the hotel, there was a message for Sari from Goofy.

She was delighted to get it and it lifted her spirits tremendously.

After we got cleaned up, we relaxed in the game room for a little while before heading off to dinner.

Since Alex had a little bit of a hard day, we let her choose where to eat. She chose the Rainforest Café and we headed over shortly afterwards.

As we were being seated, Anya gazed around the restaurant as though looking for someone.

I had a feeling it wouldn't be long before she saw Jon again. IN fact, I was sure of it…


	21. Chapter 21

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy! 

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 21

We spent the next few days wandering through the various theme parks.

We wanted to get as much park time in as we could, knowing we only had two days left.

Anya spent more and more time with Jon and enjoyed most of it.

She enjoyed is company, but wasn't very fond of his Goofy tendencies.

Alex on the other hand ,found them hilarious and got a kick out of it Whenever Jon acted Goofy around her.

Anya tried to get Jon to take Marie, but he explained he wasn't going home right away. He also suggested calling Sara and having Marie plead her own case.

"That won't work. " Anya said as she stroked the cat's fur. "Sara said no cats. Let's just say last Halloween, she let Pooka out on purpose. I think she thought he would get rid of the black cat population in one night.

"What a wonderful friend you have." Jon commented.

"Pooka's a nice dog. " Alex commented. "He's warm to sleep with."

"Nice dog maybe." Jon said. "Silly friend, yes."

"Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?" Anya asked.

"Yeah."

Alex giggled.

"Pooka's not black! He's brown and white. Mama has a picture of him in her wallet. Show 'em."

"Alex, I don't think Jon wants to se a picture of Pooka with a birthday hat on."

"Please?" Alex asked.

"If there was birthday cake I might want to see it." Jon said.

"He's eating one!" Alex told him. "Come on, Mama, please show 'em."

"Come on, Mama, please give me a birthday cake." Jon begged.

"You two are too much." Anya said as she got her wallet out. She thrust the picture in Jon's hands before ruffling Alex's hair and leading the way over to a vender selling cupcakes.

She bought three of them. She took one for herself and gave the other two to Alex and Jon.

"You know, Alex, that's not really a cupcake. It's a Mickey Monster head. But if you let me taste it for you, I can see if it's safe."

Alex shook her head.

"Nice try." She said. "You have your own. Besides, trying to trick a princess is wrong."

"It might be wrong, but my tummy says it feels so right."

"Your tummy needs a better conscience." Alex said.

"Jiminey Cricket is a conscience for people, not for tummies."

"Jiminey who?" She asked.

"Haven't you ever seen Pinocchio?" He asked.

Alex shook her head and looked confused.

Anya stepped in just then.

"She hasn't seen it yet." She said truthfully.

"Well, Jiminey is a small fairy that tells little children they should give hungry people they're Mickey shaped cupcakes."

Alex tilted her head in thought.

"I don't think that's right." She said.

"Well, you're thinking wrong." Jon said.

"First of all," Anya said as she sat down upon a bench and Alex sat on her lap, "Jiminey is a Cricket, not a fairy. Secondly, Mister His Eyes are bigger than his stomach, eat your own cupcake and stop trying to swindle another one from Alex."

"I'm not trying to swindle, I'm just trying too borrow." HE said.

"I'll share half with you. " She offered.

"You don't have to do that." He said sincerely.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"He's sure. " Anya said pointedly.

"I have a feeling my rumbly tumbly doesn't need another cupcake."

"Mama, I'm thirsty." Alex said.

"Okay. We can get a drink over there." She said, pointing to a vender that sold cold juice and soda.

"Allow me. " Jon said.

"You know," Anya said, leaning over to whisper in Alex's ear. "Just between you and me, this isn't going to turn out well."

"I know." Alex said with a giggle.

Jon left to get the drinks. He approached the counter and guessed what Alex would like based on her love of Lilo and Stitch. He ended up picking a pineapple mango drink with a hint of strawberry.

He got Anya a rootbeer cream soda and got himself some coffee.

"Might I suggest a carrier?" The man behind the counter said.

"Well, it's not that far away. What's the worst that could happen?" Jon retorted.

"Oh let me count the possibilities."

"You can't count them because there aren't any."

"If you say so." He said. "Have a magical day."

"You too." With that, Jon started making his way back to the girls.

Jon got about five steps before colliding with a kid holding a Mickey balloon.

Without warning, the balloon popped, causing the child to burst into angry tears.

She thrust a finger at Jon and glared at him.

"Sorry about that, pal." He said.

The girl continued to glare. Her mother rushed forward at the sound of her daughter's wails.

"What happened, sweetums? " She asked.

Jon couldn't' help but notice the thick bag she was carrying.

"He popped Mickey!" The girl cried.

"You did what to my sweet little girl's balloon?" She asked. And without giving Jon time to explain, she swung the bag like a javelin until it hit its intended target. "That'll teach you to pop innocent children's balloons! Take that! An that!"

"Uh-oh." Alex said from a few feet away. "It sounds like Jon got someone mad." She then got a good look at the woman's coat and exclaimed before Anya could stop her, "Mama, I didn't' know Cruella Devil worked here. Now wonder they don't allow dogs in the park."

Fortunately, Anya was stopped from having to explain that by Jon returning sopping wet and no drinks in hand.

He slid to a stop by running into the bench.

Alex frowned.

"Boy." She said. "First that lady beat you up and then the bench doesn't like you."

"Nope. Not very popular today." He said.

"What did you do to make Cruella mad?"

"I accidentally popped her kid's balloon. I would have replaced it. I'm going to go try and find her to replace the balloon."

Alex shook her head.

"You don't learn the first time, do you?" She asked.

"Nope." He said.

"Why don't you forget about the balloon." Anya suggested.

"But I accidentally popped it. I feel bad for popping the balloon."

"I have an idea." Alex said only half sarcastically. "Why don't you buy me a balloon."

"Alex!" Anya chided her.

"What? " Alex asked innocently. "It'll solve his problem."

"You know, that's a great idea." Jon agreed.

"No." Anya said. She turned to Alex. "You don't need a balloon, my cherina."

"I know. I was just trying to keep Jon out of trouble."

Anya smiled.

"Something tells me that's an impossible feat." She said with a smirk.

Just then, Claud and Margo joined them.

Margo had a plush Patch in her arms.

"Where did you get him?" Alex asked.

"I won him at the hotel." Margo replied.

"Mama, can we go back and play games?" Alex asked.

"Sure. " Anya said.

Jon grinned.

"Great! I've been meaning to try that claw machine."

Anya rolled her eyes as she led the way back to the hotel.

"What's up?" She asked as she jogged up beside Claudia.

"Kristy wants to hold an emergency meeting of the BSC in our room." She said.

"What about the kids?" Anya asked.

"Mrs. Brewer said she would watch them, along with Mrs. Papadakis and Watson."

"I can watch Alex." Jon volunteered just as he smacked into a pole.

"Yeah." Anya said offhandedly. "Something tells me she'll be watching you."

"Pole 1, head zero." He said underneath of his breath.

Alex's eyes lit up.

"Please Mama!" She begged. "It'll be fun. It'll be like teaching Goofy baby-sitting."

"Karen told you about her dream, huh?" Anya asked.

"Uh-huh." Her daughter replied.

Anya thought about it all the way back to the hotel.

Finally, she agreed on one condition.

"I don't want her to have anymore candy." She said. "She's had enough already."

"Sure thing." Jon said. "More candy."

"No more candy." Anya emphasized.

"Okay." He said.

"I love you, sweetie." Anya said, giving Alex a kiss on her cheek. "Be good, okay?"

"Yes, Mama." Alex replied.

"Although maybe I should be saying that to Jon instead of you." She commented.

"He's good!" Alex insisted. "He just does really silly things."

After she was sure Alex would be okay, Anya rushed upstairs with Claudia to join us for the meeting.

The minute she was gone, Jon smiled down at the almost eight-year-old.

"Let's get the fun started!" He declared. With that, he produced a role of tokens and headed for the Genie claw machine.

Alex followed him eagerly. She had her eye set on a plush Kiara.

"I'll bet you can't get it in two tries." Margo said from just behind them.

"Can so." Jon shot back.

"Prove it." Margo challenged.

"I am King of the claw machine."

Alex giggled while Margo rolled her eyes.

To everyone's surprise, Jon won after only one try.

Even though Alex ended up getting Todd instead of Kiara, she was still happy. She had always loved the Fox and the Hound and Todd was her favorite character.

"Now beat that. " HE said to Margo.

"Watch this." Margo said. With that, she put a token in and watched the machine do its thing.

Genie's hand dipped into the pile of plush and picked out Roo.

Margo frowned.

"I didn't want him." She said. "This machine ripped me off."

"Did not." Jon said.

Margo glared at him. She left her prize in the machine, where Alex picked it up and ended up giving it to a child who hadn't won.

"Aw, how Roodiful."

"This is fun!" The seven-year-old declared. "Wanna play ski ball now?"

"No." Jon said. "I wanna brownie."

Alex frowned.

"Mama said no more chocolate."

"No. She said no more candy." Jon said. "A brownie isn't candy. And what if we told her the aliens from toy story came down and forced the brownie into your mouth?"

"Mama doesn't like when people lie to her."

"It won't be a lie. I have a costume." Jon told her.

Alex shook her head.

"No." She said. Then as an after thought she added, "Are you and Goofy related?"

"Not that I'm aware of." He said.

"Come on. " Alex said as she took his hand and led him over to the ski ball machine. "Let's play some ski ball."

"I wanna play the eat a brownie game." Jon said.

"You can have one. I Don't want one."

"I can?" He asked.

"Yeah." Alex replied.

"It's not very fair for me to eat a brownie if you can't have one. It's not very polite." Jon pointed out.

Alex glanced around before spotting a counter that sold fruit flavored granola bars.

"Mama won't mind if I have one of those." She said, pointing to the granola bar list.

"But I want a brownie." Jon whined.

"You can have your brownie." Alex assured him. "I'm gonna get a granola bar. May I have a lemonade too, please?"

"No problem." Jon said.

"Thanks!" Alex said, flashing him one of her winning smiles.

"It's my pleasure, princess." Jon replied.

Alex giggled.

"Your British accent needs work."

"Yes it does." He agreed.

Getting to the counter, Jon ordered a raspberry lemonade for Alex, along with a granola bar. He also ordered a coke for himself and a large fudge brownie.

Finding a table, they sat down and started to eat their respective snacks.

"Have you ever been to Russia before?" Alex asked.

"Nope." Jon replied.

"Me neither." Alex said.

"I'll bet it's a nice place." He said.

"Mama's been there." Alex said.

"She has?" Jon asked.

"Uh-huh."

"Very cool." He said.

Just then, a woman joined them. She smiled at Jon in recognition before giving Alex a friendly smile.

"Well, we're just running into each other all over the place, aren't we?" She asked, winking at Jon.

"It would appear that way, wouldn't it?" He said. Then just remembering he wasn't alone, he pointed to Alex. "Danielle, this is Alex, Alex, this is my friend, Danielle."

"Privyet." Alex said. "Hi."

"Hi, sweetheart." Danielle replied. "Are you Anastasia's little girl?"

"Yeah." Alex said. "How do you know my Mama?"

"We had a mutual friend." Danielle replied.

"What's that mean?" Alex asked.

Danielle blushed and hastened to explain.

Once she was done, Alex nodded in understanding as she took a bite of her granola bar.

While Jon and Danielle started a small conversation, Alex busied herself with trying to find Karen.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Danielle asked.

"Sure." Jon replied.

After making sure Alex would be okay for a minute, Jon followed Danielle a little ways away.

As they reached the spot, Jon almost slipped on some wet paint that hadn't been cleaned up yet.

"You should be more careful." Danielle said. "In fact, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Am I in trouble with the supervisor?" Jon asked.

"No." She replied. "I just wanna warn you to be a little more careful."

"Okay. Am I in trouble with an inspector?" He asked.

"No." She replied. "Like I said, you need to be more careful."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Jon asked.

Danielle leaned over and whispered something in Jon's ear.

They were soon interrupted by the sound of someone coughing.

Jon whirled around at the noise and rushed to Alex's side.

The little girl was on her knees once again, trying to catch her breath.

"Either eating a granola bar is really tiring," he said, "or something's really wrong here."

"Do you know her mother's phone number?" Danielle asked.

Fortunately, Karen ran over at that moment. She took in the situation and was able to keep it together better than she had the last time.

"I'll go get Anastasia!" Karen said. With that, she ran off.

Soon, Mrs. Papadakis and Mom were around Alex, trying to help her.

Danielle went to call an ambulance while Jon stayed by Alex's side. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he wasn't' about to leave the child now.

He had a feeling Anya was going to be very angry at him when she found out what had happened. He only prayed she would give him the chance to explain.

Meanwhile, in Claudia's room she was sharing with the Perkins girls, we were in the middle of our BSC meeting.

I had already called the meeting to order and Claud had passed around a few Mickey bars along with other assorted treats.

Anya was munching on some trail mix mixed with sunflower seeds while the rest of us took a Mickey bar.

"So any new business?" I asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

I was about to say I had some and go on to explain about a new festival idea I had when the door opened, revealing Karen.

She looked scared and her eyes were as wide as saucers behind her pink glasses.

"Karen, what's wrong?" I asked.

Karen wasted no time.

"It's Alex!" She explained worriedly. "She was eating a granola bar and she started coughing! Jon asked me to get Anastasia."

Anya jumped to her feet, the bag of trail mix falling to the floor in her haste.

"Are they still in the game room?" She asked my sister.

Karen nodded.

Anya followed her out of the room with the rest of us close behind.

I wasn't sure what had happened, but I prayed Alex would be okay soon…


	22. Chapter 22

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy! 

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 22

When we reached the game room, Anya rushed to Alex's side and started asking questions in rapid succession while trying to keep her daughter calm at the same time.

I held Karen back as she tried to get close enough to see what was going on with Alex.

As for the other members, they had their hands full as well.

Emily was crying from all the noise and was currently being comforted by Mom.

Jon apologized profusely, but Anya seemed to be ignoring him at the moment. Her attention was focused solely on her daughter and the paramedic named Lucy, who was talking to both of them.

At the last minute, Jon hopped into the back of the ambulance with them as it sped off.

After they left, we tried to keep busy and help the kids do the same.

I prayed silently that Alex would be okay. I wasn't even sure what had happened. I knew Anya would explain it to everyone when she and Alex returned.

"Kristy?" Emily said as she calmed down. She walked over to me and I put an arm around her.

"Yeah, Em?" I asked.

"Pluto has to go potty." She said.

I giggled despite the situation.

Emily's comment gave me an idea.

"Who wants to take a walk?" I asked the kids around me.

Almost everyone agreed.

Before I knew it, the kids and us remaining baby-sitters were walking down Main Street.

I could tell everyone was worried about Alex and therefore, their HEARTS REALLY WEREN'T IN IT.

Sari was an exception to the rule as well as Emily.

Both girls started squealing excitedly when they saw Mickey.

I was about to walk them over with Claudia carrying Sari, when Karen ran ahead of me and into the arms of someone just ahead of us.

"Ariel! Ariel!" She shouted. "Kristy, its Ariel!"

I smiled at my sister and then up at the woman she had called Ariel.

Jodi smiled down at her in recognition.

"Hi Karen." She said. "It's good to see you again. Is that your big sister?"

Karen nodded proudly.

"Yup!"

Jodi smiled at me and held out her hand.

"What are you guys doing here? " Jodi asked curiously.

Karen frowned and told her all about Alex.

"I'm sorry she's in the hospital." Jodi said sincerely. "I hope she gets better soon."

"Me too." Karen said. "It was scary."

Jodi nodded sympathetically and hugged her once again.

After we talked to Jodi for a few more minutes, she explained she had to go and meet her husband and children at one of the parks.

Before she left, she sung "Part of Your World" for the kids, which put a smile on Gabbi's face as well as Char's.

After Jodi was gone, we stopped at a local café to get something to eat.

As we were finishing up our treat, my cell phone rang.

Mom and Watson had given me one the Christmas before in case of emergencies. They allowed me to give the number to my friends as well as our charges' parents since I was the club president.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Kristy, it's me." Anya said.

"How's Alex doing?" I asked.

"She's going to be okay." Anya replied. "Jon's beating himself up over this."

"I can imagine." I said. "It wasn't his fault."

"I keep telling him that. But he won't listen. He bought Alex this really big Pooh bear. I convinced him to take it back and get her a smaller version."

"That's sweet." I said

"Yeah." Anya agreed. "I'm just afraid he's gonna go a little overboard with the gift thing."

Just then, a doctor came in.

"Kristy, I have to go." Anya said. "I'll explain everything when we get back."

"Okay. Tell Alex we said hi."

"I will." Anya said. "Dosvedanya." With that, the phone call ended.

"Is Alex all right?" Karen asked the minute I Hung up on my end.

"She will be." I told her.

"Goody!" Karen cheered.

I smiled and gave her a hug.

Meanwhile at the hospital, Jon was playing a game of tic tac toe with Alex, while Anya spoke to the doctor about what had happened and how to prevent it from happening again.

The doctors had performed various tests on the little girl to try and figure out what was wrong.

Anya had stayed with her throughout all of them, trying to keep her calm and distract her from the pain.

Finally, almost an hour after Alex had arrived, the doctor who later introduced herself as Dr. Eliza Barnes, concluded that Alex was allergic to honey and would have to watch what she ate.

She had given Alex a shot to counter act the affects of the honey she had ingested and explained to Anya that Alex would have to take medicine if another allergy attack hit.

Once Dr. Barnes was done explaining everything to the small family, she left Alex to get some rest. She told the little girl she could go home in a little while, much to Alex's relief.

"Mama's not gonna be happy when she sees how big Mickey is." Alex said as she took her turn in the game.

"Oh sweetie, he's not that tall." Jon said. "He's only a few inches taller than you are."

Alex rolled her eyes.

"His head almost touched the ceiling." Alex pointed out.

"See? You said almost," he said. "Therefore, I'm off the hook."

"If you say so." Alex said with a shrug.

"Well, would you like something taller?"

"NO thanks. " Alex said.

"Jon, you didn't." Anya said as she came into the room. She glared at the Mickey standing in the corner. "The Pooh bear was enough."

"I tried to tell him that," Alex said as she coughed a few times. "But he's stubborn."

"Doesn't everyone need a five and a half foot tall Mickey mouse?" Jon asked.

"No." Anya replied. She held out a cup of water to Alex and coaxed her to drink some.

When her daughter's coughing fit had subsided, Anya turned her attention back to Jon.

"You need to take him back." She said.

"For something taller, I can easily agree." Jon said.

"NO." Anya said.

"Do you think Sari needs a seven foot tall Goofy?" Jon asked.

Anya ignored him.

"Take Mickey back and don't come back with anything else unless it's a book."

"But I wanna stay here." Jon said in a perfect imitation of Mickey.

"Tough cheese mouse," Anya said.

"Aw, Alex wants me to stay here though. Don't cha?"  
Alex didn't answer due to the fact she was half asleep.

"Take him back now. And that's an order." Anya said through gritted teeth.

"Aw, I wanna stay here." Mickey said. "Please?"

"No." Anya said. "Unless you don't want me to treat you to dinner tonight, I suggest you take him back."

"You know, Mickey, on second thought," Jon said. "You should go live with all your other friends." With that, he left the room with Mickey in both arms.

Anya sighed with relief as she sat down on the edge of Alex's bed.

Just then, her cell phone rang.

"Privyeyt?" She asked.

"Hiya there Anya!" Goofy's voice said. "Can I come live with Alex?"

"No!" Anya said in frustration. With that, she hung up.

Not two minutes later her cell phone rang again.

"What do you want now?" She asked.

"Aw, gee," Mickey said. "Can't I come live with you?"

Anya hung up and turned the phone off.

She waited a minute and turned it back on.

It rang shortly afterwards.

She counted to ten silently in Russian to keep her cool and patience in check.

"Yes?" She asked through gritted teeth.

"Howdy! It's me, Goofy! I was just wondering if you changed your mind."

Anya hung up the phone once again.

She fought the urge to throw it against the wall.

"Mama?" Alex asked. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, my cherina." Anya said softly. "How do you feel?"

"Tired." Alex replied. "I wanna go home."

"I know you do. You'll be able to go home soon."

Just then, her phone rang again.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Howdy, it's me, Goofy." Came Goofy's voice.

"Goofy, you can tell Jon that none of you are coming home with us." With that, she hung up.

"Mama?"

"Yeah, sweetheart?" Anya asked, turning to face her little girl.

"Are you and Jon gonna get married?"

"If I don't kill him first." Anya said just as her cell phone rang once again.

She ignored it.

Jon returned shortly afterwards with a thick book in his hands. HE set it across Alex's lap and watched as she looked through it.

"Thanks!" She said. "Mama, look! IT has Ariel in it."

"I can see that." She said.

"Can I keep it, please?"

"Sure, sweetie." She replied. Then to Jon she said, "You did good this time. Where did you find the book anyway?"

"I found it in the gift shop." He replied.

Anya nodded.

Anya and Alex arrived back at the hotel just before dinnertime.

Once she had gotten Alex settled, she filled us in on what had happened as well as what went on at the hospital.

"Alex is allergic to honey." Anya explained.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Claudia asked.

"Yeah." Anya replied. "She just has to be careful of what she eats."

"Oh the horror!" Claudia said. "She can never have cookies again!"

"Not exactly." Anya said with a laugh. "We just have to make sure there's no honey in them."

Claudia sighed with relief, which made us all laugh.

After we talked for a little while longer, Anya talked Jon into bringing dinner up for her and Alex since she didn't want to leave her.

He ended up bringing dinner for everyone.

We ate and chatted for the next hour and had a pretty nice time.

Once Jon left, we all retired to bed.

I was aware that we were leaving in two days.

We would get back to our normal lives of baby-sitting, hanging out and more baby-sitting.

This trip had also helped me come to a decision of my own. One I Had been struggling with all summer. But now I knew what to do. I kept this bit of information to myself though. I would tell everyone at our next meeting the Monday after we had returned home to Stoneybook.

I fell asleep easier that night than I had since we had arrived in Florida for our vacation.


	23. Chapter 23

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy! 

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 23

The next morning, we got dressed and met everyone for breakfast at Chef Mickey's.

The kids were excited for the character breakfast.

Karen and Alex, along with Charlotte were hoping Ariel would be there.

I tried to explain that she probably had to take care of her children and wouldn't be able to attend.

When we arrived, we helped the kids get their breakfasts and then got something for ourselves.

Anya helped Alex get hers and Karen went with them. She insisted that Alex was a good luck charm to find Ariel.

I watched them go and started cutting up Emily's Mickey Mouse waffles and her bacon shaped like Goofy.

Just then, Gabbi started shrieking with delight and pointing across the aisle.

"What is it, Gabbers?" I asked.

"Kristy Thomas, look!" She shouted in excitement. "It's Tinker Bell!"

I glanced over to where Gabbi was pointing.

Sure enough, a teenage girl who looked a lot like Tink was standing near a buffet table lined with muffins and biscuits.

The only difference was her eyes. Where Tink's were a sparkling blue, the teenager's eyes were brown.

"Can we go see her, Kristy Thomas? Please?" Gabbi asked.

"Sure!" I said. "Hey, Claud. Can you watch Em for me?"

"Sure thing. " She said as she stuffed her third croissant in her mouth.

"Thanks." I said dryly. I kissed my little sister on the head and told her to be good. "Come on, Gabbers. " I said. "Let's go see Tink."

"YAY!" Gabbi cheered as I guided her towards the teenager.

I smiled at her warmly as we approached.

"Hi!" I said. "I'm Kristy. And this is Gabbi."

"HI!" Gabbi said excitedly. "Where's Blaze?"

The teenager's eyes lit up in recognition after a minute.

"He's back in Pixie Hollow." She said, sounding exactly like Tink. "He doesn't like crowds."

Gabbi nodded.

The teenager knelt down to Gabbi's level and the two talked for a few minutes.

"Did you bring Lizzy with you?" Gabbi asked.

"I think she's eating breakfast with her father." Tink said. "But she's around here somewhere."

Gabbi nodded.

After the were done talking, I thanked the teenage girl who mouthed to me that her name was Mae and told Gabbi it was time for her to leave.

"Okay." She said. "can I Give you a hug?"

Tink nodded and embraced her without any hesitation.

Tink whispered something in Gabbi's ear and she nodded with a grin.

Once we were done, I quickly explained that we had a few more Disney Fairy Fans back at our table.

Tink promised she would try and come over to see them.

After we were done, we headed back to our table.

Gabbi told everyone there what had happened and they all became excited, hoping to meet Tink themselves.

Throughout the rest of breakfast, various characters came to see the kids.

Tink was among them, as well as Mickey, Minnie and Chip and Dale.

As for the princesses, Jasmine, Cinderella and Aurora were the only ones who showed up.

"Kristy, can I have more eggs, please?" Karen asked.

"Karen, aren't you stuffed yet?" I said as I watched her eat the last bit of a fourth piece of French toast.

"If I was stuffed, I wouldn't be asking for more." Karen pointed out.

"Anya, do you want to take her?" I asked.

"Sure." Anya replied. "Come on, Karen. Let's go raid the French toast table the royal way."

"There's a royal way to raid a table?" Karen asked in surprise.

"Come with me and you'll find out." Anya replied.

Shaking my head, I went back to my own meal.

Meanwhile, Anya and Karen were trying to figure out what flavor of French toast Karen wanted to try next.

"How about Apricot?" Anya suggested.

Karen wrinkled her nose.

"I never cared for Apricot." Karen said in her best imitation of Anya.

"Oh, well, let's see what we can find that will satisfy your royal pallet." Anya suggested.

After searching for a little while longer, Karen finally chose a piece of peach French toast and a small piece with mango on it.

As they were heading back, Anya spotted a little girl standing near a table with fruit loops and assorted cereal on it.

"Karen, why don't we get you back to Kristy." She suggested. "I want to get a plate for Alex."

Karen looked confused.

"Why don't you just get it now."

""Because I know you want to eat and I have to go to the bathroom."

"Oh." Karen replied. "Okay."

Making sure Karen would be okay once they returned to the table, Anya told us she would be right back.

"No problem." I said. "We'll keep an eye on Alex."

"I have no doubt." Anya said as she left.

After taking a bathroom break, Anya raced back to the spot she had seen the little girl.

When she got there, she found her in the same place.

When the little girl spotted her, she smiled and gasped in surprise.

"Hi there." Anya said as she approached the little girl.

"Holy macanoli!" She said as she stared at Anya. "You're…you're Anastasia!"

Before Anya could say anything, a man approached them. He was of African American descent and he had really nice brown eyes.

He sighed with relief upon seeing the girl standing there.

"Molly, there you are." He said. "I've been looking all over for you. How did you get over here, babe?"

"Someone took the last peach waffle." She explained. "I was gonna get a strawberry one, but then Jewelheart went after the kid that took it, so I had to go after her."

"I'm glad you're safe." He said. He then gazed up at Anya. "Thanks for keeping her safe."

"I didn't do anything. " Anya said. "By the way, I'm Anya."

"Mike Tyler." Mike replied. "I'm Molly's baseball coach."

"And my best grown up friend." Molly said with a grin.

Mike ruffled the little girl's light brown hair which was in two pigtails.

"Well, we need to get back to the table now." Mike said, turning to Anya. "Molly's aunt was really worried about her."

Anya nodded.

"I understand." She said. "I'm the same with Alex."

"Is Alex a princess like you?" Molly asked.

Anya nodded.

"She sure is." She said.

"Wow!"

Anya giggled and gave Molly a warm smile.

"It was really nice to meet both of you." Anya said.

"Same here." Mike replied. "Well, come on, Moll." He said.

"Wait!" Molly insisted. "Jewelhart's still missing."

"Maybe I can help." Anya offered.

"How?" The little girl asked.

"Well, when my dog, Pooka runs away, all I have to do to get him to come back is whistle."

"I tried that." Molly said. "I guess Jewelhart must have been really hungry."

Anya smiled.

"Trust me." She winked and put her plan into action.

Molly watched in amazement as Jewelhart came running around the corner a minute or so later.

"You did it!" She said. "Thanks for helping me find Jewelhart. You're the best princess ever! You're even cooler than Sleeping Beauty."

"Well, thanks, kiddo." Anya said with a laugh. "I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your vacation."

"We will!" Molly assured her. "Thanks again! Dosvedanya!" With that, she and Mike were gone, along with the playful golden retriever.

Getting back to the table, Anya sat down just as Sari reached for a biscuit and knocked over her drink.

Anya and Claud cleaned up the mess quickly.

After that was done, Anya explained what had happened and who she had met at the fruit table.

"Do you think Molly and her family will move to Stoneybrook, Mama?" Alex asked.

Anya shrugged.

"I don't know, sweetie. " She said. "You just never know."

Alex nodded and dug back into her breakfast.

Before we knew it, everyone had their fill and the kids were raring to visit the parks one last time.

When we reached Magic Kingdom, Sari spotted someone she wanted to say good-bye to.

She practically pulled Anya over to where Goofy was standing.

As they approached, Anya watched in amusement and realization as Goofy tripped over a bench in his attempt to get to them.

Sari threw her arms around Goofy and gave him a hug.

"We're going home tomorrow." Sari told him. 'I'm gonna miss you. Are you gonna miss me?"

Anya shook her head as she saw Goofy stick his stomach out.

"Be quiet. " Anya said softly. "Don't talk."

Goofy nodded just in time, which made Sari smile.

"You're my favorite part of Disney World." She said. "Have a nice summer."

She gave Goofy another hug. She was about to go back to Anya's side, when something occurred to her. "Goofy, you're not talking to me. Why?"

As Goofy went to answer, Anya shook her head once again.

"Shut up." She hissed. "And that's an order."

Goofy nodded. He gave Sari another hug and then walked away just as twin five-year-old girls attacked him.

"All right, Sar-bear." Anya said. "Let's get back to the others."

"Okay." She agreed. She let Anya give her a piggy back ride back to where we were waiting.

As they left, Goofy waved at them before turning his attention back to the twins.

"What do you guys want to do now?" I asked once everyone was accounted for. "Remember, today is our last official day here. That means everyone can do their #favorite thing one more time."

"Small world!" Emily announced. But instead of looking at me, she glanced at Anya. "Ana, please?" She asked.

"Sure, Em." Anya agreed. She turned to Alex. "How about you, my cherina?"

Alex shook her head adamantly.

"NO thanks!" She replied. "You're on your own with this one."

"Are you sure?" Anya asked.

"Positive." Alex assured her.

"Okay." With that, she took Emily by the hand on her left and Claire on her right.

By the time the song was on its fifth go around, Anya understood why her daughter had declined.

She made a mental note to give away Alex's copy of the song on CD when they got home.

After Anya and the girls got off of the ride, I asked everyone what they wanted to do next.

"Can we see Genie again, please Kristy Thomas?" Gabbi asked. She was wearing her Princess jasmine crown and staring at me with hopeful eyes.

"We'll see." I said. "Let's try and do some more things here first."

Gabbi agreed with this and quickly turned her attention to the Peter Pan ride.

As we stood in line, David Michael joined us.

After the Peter Pan ride was over, we rejoined everyone and tried to figure out what to do next.

"I wanna go on Pirates of the Caribbean." Linny said.

David Michael agreed right away.

This meant I, along with Claudia, were soon accompanying both boys onto the ride.

As we approached the turn style, a cast member approached us. He pointed a fake sword at David Michael.

"Ah, I spot a land lover seeking to make trouble."

David Michael frowned.

"I only did that once.!" He said defensively.

"It one's matter. Once is enough. If you be seeking to cause trouble on my boat. Ye be walking' the plank."

"We got it. " Linny said. "No trouble."

The cast member nodded.

"You would do well to remember." With that, he was gone.

The minute he was gone, Linny muttered, "Weirdo. I'll bet there's not even a real plank."

"I wouldn't bait him if I were you." I advised.

"What does fishing have to do with this?" David Michael asked.

I laughed gently.

"Nothing. " I answered. "I meant you shouldn't push him."

"There's nowhere to push him off." Linny pointed out.

We settled into the ride and things started off calmly.

Surprisingly, everything continued to go smoothly. But it didn't last for long.

When the ride ended, the cast member who had warned David Michael came aboard.

"Everyone exit single file. We wouldn't want anyone to become shark food. The sharks don't eat lunch yet anyway."

"Weirdo." Linny said again.

"What ye be saying?" The cast member asked.

Linny stared him down.

"You're a weirdo." He declared.

"Ah, perhaps you'd like to try out the new and improved plank." He suggested

"No thanks." He said.

"That's what I thought. " The cast member replied. With that, he walked away.

"Linny!" I hissed.

"What?" He asked. "That guy was a weirdo."

Shaking my head, I chose to say nothing as we walked back to where the others were waiting for us.

After the pirate disaster, we decided to do Philharmagic one more time.

Claudia stayed outside with Sari, content too munch on another Goofy lollipop.

As she bit off Goofy's head, she relished in the taste and savered the sweetness as it went down.

She and Sari played patty-cake and other little games until we came out.

"Claudia, I'm hungry!" Sari said as she watched her eat the last of a Mickey bar.

She spotted a stand selling Goofy shaped cookies and bought two for the both of them.

Sari promptly put the cookie in her mouth and bit off Goofy's head.

"Yum!" Sari said happily.

Claudia giggled as she watched Sari devawer the cookie.

"Is that good?" She asked.

"Uh-huh." Sari replied.

"I'm glad." Claud said.

We returned shortly afterwards.

"Kristy, I'm thirsty." Charlotte said as we approached Claudia and Sari.

Some of the other kids voiced similar agreement, so we got them drinks.

Karen and Alex picked Ariel cups, while Charlotte picked a Pocahontas one and Claire picked Mickey.

As for Gabbi, she picked Jasmine, while Mariah picked Goofy as did Sari.

After we were done our drinks and assorted snacks, we headed back to the hotel for a swim in the pool.

Sari insisted on taking Goofy in and Claudia allowed her to. She stressed that Sari had to keep a tight hold on Goofy and she promised she would.

"Goofy doesn't want another swimming lesson." Claud explained.

"Besides," Anya added, "Jon isn't here to save him this time."

"Why didn't Jon come with us, Mama?" Alex asked as she sat down while Anya quickly braided her hair to keep it out of her face.

"He had to work, sweetie. " Anya replied.

"What does he do?" Karen asked as I lathered her with sunscreen.

"Uh, he helps Mickey and Goofy." Anya answered.

Fortunately, before Karen could ask anymore questions, Margo challenged her to a race and the two were off.

Soon the other kids were in the pool having fun.

Even we baby-sitters joined them in the water for the last few minutes.

After we were done swimming, we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

We ate dinner in the Magic Kingdom for the last time.

The kids enjoyed it as did we.

As we were heading back to the hotel an hour later, Mal brought up the subject of souvenirs for Abby, Mary-Anne and Dawn as well as Stacey.

We agreed to get them a little something before we left.

Entering a shop on Main Street, I told the kids they could pick out a small souvenir each for their parents or siblings who couldn't come along.

Hannie and Sari, along with Linny, were among the kids who didn't buy anything for anyone.

Alex bought a coffee mug for Sara that had 101 Dalmatians on it.

As for Charlotte, she bought Stacey a T-shirt that said I LOVE Walt Disney World with a picture of Tinker Bell on it.

The other kids just got little things like pens, hats and a few assorted toys.

Alex asked Anya if they could buy something for Pooka.

"We can see if they have anything for him." Anya replied.

After looking around for a little while longer, they ended up finding a squeak toy in the shape of Goofy.

"This is awesome!" Alex said. "Now Pooka won't get slobber on my stuff."

Anya smiled as she ruffled her daughter's hair.

I ended up picking a plush Tigger for Mary-Anne in honor of her real cat named after the same character.

As for Abby, I picked up a book of Disney jokes and puns. When I saw it sitting there, I saw Abby's name written all over it.

Claud got Dawn a visor with the mice from Cinderella on it.

After we got back to the hotel, the kids were too wired to sleep, so we let them stay up a little bit later.

The only ones who were fast asleep already were Sari, Emily and Gabbi.

Anya was carrying Gabbi, while Claud carried Sari and I had Emily.

As for us baby-sitters, we talked for another half an hour before going to bed ourselves.

We were heading back home the next day and we knew we had to be up early.

All in all, this vacation was definitely one I didn't think any of us would forget any time soon…


	24. Chapter 24

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy! 

A/N: Well, here we are. The next to last chapter of the book. I want to thank everyone who has hung on and stayed for every chapter. I hope you enjoy the two last chapters of the book.

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 24

The next morning, we woke up with enough time to pack and eat breakfast.

Mom and Watson reminded us that our flight wasn't due to leave until three-thirty.

This meant we had to be at the airport by one-thirty.

Since most of the other kids had done what they wanted to do the day before, we lounged around the pool for most of the day and even had lunch out there.

Alex asked Anya if they could say good-bye to Jon before they left.

Her mother agreed and promised they would go look for him after lunch.

"Anastasia, I wanna see Goofy again." Sari said, pulling on her arm. "Please?"

"Okay." Anya said. "Let's go." She took Alex's hand on her left and Sari's on her right. With that, they were off.

When they reached the spot where Goofy was, Sari broke free of Anya's grasp and ran forward.

She threw her arms around Goofy's waist and hugged tightly.

"I'm gonna miss you." She said.

Goofy hugged her once again.

As they pulled away, he gestured to something in Alex's hand.

"Do you want my book?" She asked.

Goofy nodded.

"Okay. " The young princess replied. "It's not like I'm using it for anything anyway."

She handed over the book and Goofy signed thank you.

Alex signed 'you're welcome back and grinned.

Goofy took the book and wrote something down. He gave the book back to Alex, but pointed to Anya.

"You wrote something for Mama?" She asked.

Goofy nodded.

Alex handed the book to her mother and Anya peered down at the message within.

She smiled when she saw what he had written.

The three visited with Goofy for a little while longer until Anya told them they had to go.

"Can we stay longer, please?" Sari asked. "Please?"

"I'm afraid not. " Anya replied. "We have to leave so we can catch the plane to go back home."

Sari nodded. She gave Goofy one last hug and was surprised when he picked her up.

He whispered something in her left ear and Sari giggled.

Putting Sari down, he walked over and embraced Anya.

Anya hugged him back and whispered something in his ear.

He nodded as the two pulled apart.

Turning away, Anya took Alex's hand and picked Sari up and they headed back to the hotel.

As they walked away, Goofy rushed up to them and tapped Anya on the shoulder.

HE motioned for her to give Sari over and she did so without hesitation.

Swinging the child onto his back, he gave her a piggy back ride to the entrance of the park.

Once there, he waved to all three of them, ruffled Alex's hair and left to meet some other kids.

As he walked away, Anya could see him hanging his head in sadness.

She frowned as well, but tried to hide it from the girls.

When they got back to the hotel, we all started packing and making sure we had everything together before leaving for the airport.

Once that was done, we went downstairs to return our room keys, Ava handed something to Anya.

"Someone named Valerie left this for you." She explained.

"Thanks." Anya replied. She took the letter and put it in her bag. She would read it on the plane.

Before I knew it, we were back at the airport, waiting to board once again.

Some of the kids, like Emily and Claire, were tired and cranky.

Mal stood next to Claudia, holding Claire and humming to her.

Karen was tugging on my arm, wanting my attention. The problem was, I had Emily in my arms and I couldn't give any to her right now.

"Kristy!" Karen whined.

"Karen, what is it?" I asked.

"I'm bored!" She replied.

"Me too!" Charlotte said. She wasn't whining about it to which I was grateful.

"Why don't you read, Char." I suggested.

Charlotte took my suggestion and got out a copy of The Little Mermaid: Green Eyed Pearl and sat down beside Alex, who was writing something in a Tinker Bell journal she had bought at the souvenir shop.

Gabbi was listening to Claudia tell her a funny story about Donald and Goofy with Mariah adding her own parts from time to time.

Finally, we were on the plane and the kids were settled for the moment.

Five minutes before we took off, Anya's cell phone rang.

She picked it up on the second ring.

"Priveyt?" She asked.

"Hey sweetie!" Came Sara's voice. "Are you and Alex on the plane yet?"

"Yup. We're about to take off in ten minutes." Anya told her sister.

"Sounds good. I can't wait to see you guys. Did you have fun?"

"Oh yeah!" Anya said enthusiastically.

"I'm glad." Sara replied. "Can I Talk to Alex?"

Anya gazed over to find her daughter fast asleep.

"She just fell asleep." She told her.

"Aw, she must have been worn out from all the fun she had. I'll see her when you two get home. I love you. Dosvedanya."

"Love you too." Anya replied. "Dosvedanya." With that, she hung up.

She was about to put her phone away, when it rung once again.

Thinking Sara had forgotten to ask her something, she picked it up.

"Priveyt?" She asked.

"Do you really have to go home?" Goofy's sad voice asked from the other end.

"Yes." Anya replied.

Jon reverted back to his normal tone and said, "I'm really gonna miss you."

"I'm gonna miss you two." She said. "But we can always talk and e-mail each other."

"I agree. Call me tonight?"

"You got it." Anya said.

"Wow! Don't' do anything Goofy on the plane." Goofy advised.

Anya giggled.

"I won't." She said. "Dosvedanya." With that, she hung up.

Some of the kids ended up falling asleep during the flight, while others read and talked quietly with us or friends.

Anya, Mal, Claud and I got into a discussion about what we wanted to do during our camping trip in three weeks. We also talked about sitting a little as well.

Finally, it was just me, Claudia and Anya who were awake. Mal had fallen asleep an hour ago.

I let her go, knowing her mother and my parents, plus the Papadakis' were only a few rows in front of us.

"Are you looking forward to going home again?" I asked The others.

"Yeah." Claudia replied. "I have a few art projects I have to finish."

"How about you?" I asked Anya. "Are you anxious to get back home?"

Anya took a few minutes to think about it. She smiled and nodded a few minutes later.

"I am." She said. "It'll be nice to be home again."

"Are you gonna miss Jon?" Claud teased.

Anya glared at her playfully.

"Yeah." She said. "But there's always e-mail."

"You're right." I agreed as I got comfortable and closed my own eyes. "There's always e-mail."

As I rested my eyes for a few minutes, I smiled to myself.

Even though I was happy to be going home, this was definitely one trip we would be talking about for a long time to come.


	25. Chapter 25

DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!  
Enjoy! 

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 25

I was awoken a few hours later by Karen shaking me and calling my name.

"Kristy! Kristy!" She hissed in my ear.

My eyes opened a few minutes later.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"We're here!" Karen said excitedly. "Daddy said to get your things together."

I started gathering my stuff as did everyone else.

Anya got her bag on her back and secured Alex in her arms.

The little girl was still fast asleep.

Gazing around me, I saw the other members and our charges doing the same thing.

When we got off the plane, we walked into the terminal and were met by several familiar faces.

"Surprise"! They all shouted.

I smiled when I saw Abby standing there, along with the Johanssen's, the Perkins', Mal's parents as well as Vanessa and the triplets and Nicky.

Mary-Anne was also there, along with someone else who I wasn't expecting to see for another week.

"Stacey! Stacey!" Charlotte cried excitedly. She practically flew into her"big sister's" arms.

"Hey Char!" Stacey greeted. She wrapped her arms around her favorite charge and picked her up for a hug.

Charlotte clung on for all it was worth and buried her face in Stacey's shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of her pineapple and mango shampoo and body splash.

"You're not gonna leave me again, are you?" She asked worriedly.

"Nope." Stacey replied. "At least not for a long time."

"Good." Charlotte replied. 'I really missed you. I got you something in Walt Disney World."

"I missed you too, Char. I can't wait to see what it is. " Stacey said. She held Charlotte for a minute longer before putting her down.

She threw Dr. Johanssen an apologetic look, which Dr. Johanssen dismissed as she pulled Charlotte into her arms.

She knew how close Charlotte and Stacey were.

After hugging and kissing Charlotte, Dr. Johanssen gave Stacey a quick, but warm hug as well.

As for Anya, she had quickly been hugged by Sara.

Alex, who was still asleep was placed in Sara's arms.

She awoke and smiled when she realized who was holding her.

"I missed you, Aunt Sara!" Alex said as she hugged her around the neck.

"I missed you too, sweetheart." Sara said. "I got you a present. " She told her.

"I can't wait to see it." Sara said.

Just then, Anya's phone rang.

Thinking it was Jon; she picked it up and put it to her ear.

"Listen, we just got back and I'm kind of busy right now. Can I call you back later?"

TO Anya's surprise, Jon's voice didn't meet her ears.

"Is Jasmine there?" a VOICE ASKED.

"I'M SORRY," Anya said. "But you have the wrong princess." With that, she hung up.

"Did you guys have fun?" Abby asked as she joined us.

"Yeah!" Karen replied with a smile.

"I missed you Abby Stevenson!" Gabbi said with a grin as she threw herself at Abby.

"Aw, I missed you too, Gabbers." Abby said as she picked her up. "Wow! What a pretty crown."

"Thank you." Gabbi said politely. "Genie gave it to me."

"He did?" Abby asked.

Gabbi nodded.

"And guess what, Abby?" Karen said, not being able to contain her excitement. "Guess what!"

"What!" Abby said, mimicking my sister's excitement.

"Alex and I met Ariel!"

I nodded to show that Karen was telling the truth.

"You have to tell me all about it when I BABY-SIT you NEXT WEEK."

"Okay!" Karen agreed. She gave Abby a hug before moving on to Mary-Anne.

Mary-Anne was wiping at her eyes as she hugged Karen. She had promptly burst into tears at the sight of me.

I was used to it, so I didn't let it bother me.

Before long, we left the airport and joined our respective families for the ride home.

Boy, were we a sight to behold.

When we got home, I helped Mom and Watson unpack before taking Emily upstairs to bed.

Once I had tucked her in, I retired to my room for some much needed alone time.

As I gazed around at the new souvenirs I had acquired, I smiled.

When my gaze landed on my clock, I got an idea and picked up the phone.

"Hi, Abby?" I said once she had picked up.

"Hey." She said. "What's up?"

"Could you come over to my house tomorrow around one?" I asked. "I want to have a special meeting of the BSC now that everyone's back home."

"Sure thing, Madame President. Do I have to bring a gift?"

"No." I said with a laugh. "But we did get you something."

"I can't wait to see what it is." She said sincerely. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. Night."

"Night. " With that, the phone call ended.

I spent the next hour calling everyone else in the club. I explained about the meeting and everyone said they could come.

I said we could have lunch before hand, since I knew Stacey had to eat due to her diabetes.

Everyone agreed and the plans were made.

Anya asked if she could bring Alex over to play with Karen. She assured me Alex wouldn't bother us unless it was an emergency.

"Its okay. " I said. "Feel free to bring her over."

"Thanks." Anya said. "Well I better go. I have to tuck Alex in bed and then unpack a little bit."

"Okay. Dosvedanya." I said.

"Dosvedanya." Anya replied.

"Wait!" I said suddenly. "Did Sara like her gift?"  
Anya laughed.

"Yup. She loved it. She used it right away."

"That's good." I said. "Well, see you tomorrow."

"See ya then. " With that, we hung up.

After I tucked Karen in, I went to bed myself. The day had been long and the next day was going to be full of surprises for everyone.

The next day, I woke up to see sun streaming into my window. It took me a second to realize where I was.

When I felt a wet nose on my arm, I remembered I was home.

Petting Shannen's head, I gave her a kiss.

"Morning, girl." I said with a grin. "Is anyone else up?"

Shannon barked just as my bedroom door opened and Karen bounded in.

"Morning!" She said. "Anastasia and Alex are downstairs."

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Eleven o' clock." Karen replied.

I got out of bed, hugged Karen good morning and got ready for the meeting.

After I was dressed and put my hair in a ponytail, I went downstairs to prepare lunch.

I ate some cereal and then got to work.

Nannie, along with Anya and Karen helped me make turkey hoagies with potato salad and set out juice and snacks for everyone.

We also made peanut butter and jelly for the kids and set it out along with the other stuff.

Before I knew it, my friends and I were sitting in my room.

They had enjoyed the lunch and we had brought snacks up to munch on.

The kids were playing in the playroom just above us and so far they hadn't interrupted us at all.

"Order, order!" I said over all the chatter that had broken out around me.

We had spent the last half an hour telling everyone else about our trip.

Now it was time to get down to business.

Everyone calmed down after a minute or so.

"Does anyone have any new business?" I asked once I gained the other members' attention.

"I got a package in the mail." Anya announced.

I gave her a Look as though to ask how did that have anything to do with the meeting.

She ignored me.

"It's addressed to all of us." She explained.

"Awesome!" Mal exclaimed.

"We can open it after the meting. " I said.

"kill joy." Claudia mumbled.

I ignored her.

"Who's it from?" Mary-Anne asked.

"Jon." Anya replied as she blushed to the roots of her red hair.

"Ooh!" Claudia teased. "When's the wedding?"

Anya threw a pillow at her.

After everything was calm again, I brought the meeting back to focus.

"I have something to say." I said.

This got everyone's attention.

"I've been thinking about this ever since Anya moved here. I've given this a lot of thought. I didn't just call this meeting to officially welcome Anya into the club. I also called this meeting to officially announce that the club is back…for good!"

Everyone cheered and slapped each other high-fives.

Mary-Anne hugged me and burst into tears again.

"All right!" Abby shouted. "The BSC is back!"

"Can we open the package now?" Claudia asked.

This got everyone laughing.

"Sure." I said.

"What's going on in here? " Karen asked as she poked her head in the room, followed by Alex.

"yeah." Alex chimed in. "We could hear you guys cheering all the way upstairs."

"I think it scared Ben Brewer." Karen said. "He left our ghost tea party."

Alex rolled her eyes at Karen's comments. She made herself comfortable on her mother's lap.

"Mama, what's that?" She asked, eyeing the package.

"We were just about to open it." I told her. "You guys want to join us?"  
"Yeah!" Karen said with a smile. She raced over to me and sat down.

"I think since Anya received it," Mal said, "she should be the one to open it."

We all agreed and allowed our newest member to do the honors.

When she opened the box, she gasped.

Presents of all shapes and sizes met our eyes.

They all had tags on them with our names, so we knew which gift went to which person.

Seeing the box of presents reminded me of the ones we had gotten for our friends.

"Why don't we give you our gifts first." I suggested. "Then we can open Jon's."

"Okay. " Claudia replied.

Since Charlotte had given Stacey her gift when she had seen her at the airport, she was content with watching Mary-Anne open hers.

Stacey was surprised when Claud pulled out a box and handed it to her.

"Thanks!" She said.

"No problem." Claudia replied. "Open it!"

Stacey did so and smiled at what was inside.

A miniature Piglet on a keychain was sitting inside the box.

Mary-Anne started crying all over again when she saw the gift I had gotten for her.

She hugged him close and hugged me tightly.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"You're' welcome." I said.

"Thanks, Kristy!" Abby said as she opened up the book I had bought for her. "I love it."

I grinned.

"I thought you would."

Abby flipped to a random page and read aloud.

"Knock, knock."

"Whose there?" Karen asked.

"Weasel." Abby replied.

"Weasel who?" Alex asked.

"Weasel while you work!" Abby said before starting to laugh.

Karen and Alex followed suit as did Anya and Claud.

"Why was snow White a good judge?"

"Why?" Stacey asked.

"Because she was the fairest in the land!" Abby said with a giggle.

"My turn! My turn!" Alex said excitedly. She reached out and took the book from Abby's hands.

"Alex!" Anya scolded.

Alex blushed.

"Oops. " She said. "I'm sorry, Abby."

"Its okay. " She said. "Go on."

"Thanks."

Anya smiled at her.

Alex flipped to a random page and read one of the jokes on it.

"Why did Buzz Light Year sleep on Mars?" Alex asked.

"I don't' know." Anya said.

"Why?" Mal asked.

"because the moon was full!" Alex said with a giggle.

"My turn now!" Karen said. She took the book from Alex and flipped to another page. "Okay, ready?"

"Ready." I replied.

"What do you call Pluto when he sits in the sun?"

"I don't know." Mary-Anne said.

"A hot dog!"

Karen gave the book back to Abby and she put it in her bag.

"That was fun!" Alex said.

"It was." Anya agreed as she ruffled Alex's hair and patted Karen's shoulder.

"Now can we see what Jon got us?" Alex asked.

"Sure." I replied. With that, we began rummaging through the box.

Jon had picked out gifts especially for everyone according to what he thought they would like.

Karen squealed with delight when she found her gift. It was a CD with songs from the Little Mermaid show.

Alex had gotten a plush Stitch that was really soft and fluffy.

As for Anya, she had gotten a necklace with a note inside the box.

The necklace was gold with a crown pendant hanging from the middle.

Alex gasped when she saw it.

"That's pretty, Mama!" She said.

"It is." She agreed with a sweet smile.

Anya put the necklace on and fished the note out of the box.

She smiled when she read the message upon it.

"See you soon." Was all it said.

"So what does the note say?" Abby asked.

"Abby!" Mary-Anne chided.

"I'm curious." Abby retorted.

"It says, see you soon." Anya said while staring down at it.

"Well, on that note," I said as I tried to ignore Abby's snicker at my pun, "I declare this meeting of the BSC adjourned."

My friends left shortly afterwards, with the exception of Anya and Abby since they lived close by.

"This has been one crazy summer." Abby said as she laid back on my bed.

"You got that right." Anya agreed. "And I have a feeling the school year won't be any different."

"You're probably right about that." I Said.

The summer had surely been full of surprises for everyone.

Like Abby, I too had a funny feeling the school year would be full of even more surprises.

The summer had been one chapter in my life that had come to a close.

It left me wondering what the next chapter would bring. But that's for another story.

THE END

A/N: I want to thank my good friend, SpectroGenie for helping me write this story and sticking with me until it was finished! I had a lot of fun writing it with you and I was truly blessed to have you as a writing partner!

I also want to thank everyone who has read the story and held on until the end. Thank you for all your kind words, comments and constructive criticism.

Again, thank you so much and God bless!


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